The NHS is to receive £40m in funding to try to cut login times on IT systems across the health service – a move the government says could free up thousands of staffing hours a day as the saved seconds add up.

In a typical hospital, staff need to log in to as many as 15 systems when tending to a patient. As well as taking up time, the proliferation of logins requires staff either to remember multiple complex passwords or, more likely, compromise security by reusing the same one on every system.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said: “It is frankly ridiculous how much time our doctors and nurses waste logging on to multiple systems. As I visit hospitals and GP practices around the country, I’ve lost count of the amount of times staff complain about this. It’s no good in the 21st century having 20th-century technology at work.

“This investment is committed to driving forward the most basic frontline technology upgrades, so treatment can be delivered more effectively and we can keep pace with the growing demand on the NHS.”

The investment will support projects similar to one at Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool, where a single sign-on system was built and deployed, reducing time spent logging into systems from 105 seconds to just 10. At that one hospital alone, the reduction in login time saved more than 130 hours a day, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

“I want to harness the best digital technology to improve care for patients and ease the burden on our staff. And to do that, we need to get the basics right,” Hancock said. “Too often, outdated technology slows down and frustrates staff and prevents them from giving patients their full attention and the care they deserve.”

As well as the login project, DHSC is providing £4.5m to local authorities to fund digital programs aimed at aiding independent living for recipients of adult social care. The money could, for instance, fund AI-powered monitoring, allowing carers to be alerted only when people’s normal routines are disrupted, the department suggested.