Over two in five (42%) said the burden due to lost hours added to stress or burnout.
Stephen Sutcliffe, director of finance and accounting, NHS Shared Business Services, said: ‘Corporate, managerial and support teams play a vital role in keeping NHS organisations running effectively, from managing finances and procurement to supporting the day-to-day operations that underpin patient care. Yet our research shows too much of their time is still being consumed by inefficient processes, duplicated activities and disconnected systems.
‘At a time when the NHS is under increasing pressure to deliver more with limited resources, there is a clear opportunity to standardise and streamline the way these functions operate. By reducing unnecessary administrative effort and making better use of technology, organisations can improve productivity, strengthen resilience and ensure specialist expertise is focused where it adds the greatest value.'
Almost two-thirds (62%) said more joined-up operational systems and processes across NHS teams and organisations would make the biggest difference to their working day.
A broader failure to centralise and streamline NHS operations has contributed to a 40% (£1.85bn) rise in back-office spending since 2018/19, excluding pay and pensions.
The report highlights examples of standardisation best practice, including Norfolk and Waveney, where five NHS trusts moved procurement and finance onto a shared platform. As a result, the time taken from requisition to order fell from two days to ten minutes, while 94% of purchase orders are now generated automatically.
At University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, recruitment and onboarding have been automated across the trust, a programme projected to free up 12,000 staff hours a year, the equivalent of five full-time roles, while reducing errors by 90%.
The occupational analysis supports NHS SBS's Futureproofing the NHS report, published in June 2026, which sets out the case for shared operational foundations across the health service.
