New Zealand’s “Releasing Time to Care” initiative is freeing up health care providers’ time so patients in hospitals can benefit from more one-on-one care, according to Health Minister Jonathan Coleman. The initiative, active in half of New Zealand’s District Health Boards, is part of the country’s Productive Series, designed to help medical staff streamline the way they work. The initiative focuses on improving one process per month, such as having the right equipment in place and ready to go, introducing bedside handovers, and ensuring that patient checks are carried out at set intervals. As a result of the initiative, staff is spending more than 60 percent of their time providing direct care at the bedside, up from 34 percent before the program began.