District nurses provide specialist nursing care, including:
- home visits, provided to housebound patients
- nursing clinics for people who are not housebound.
Once you have been referred to the community nursing service, a nurse will be in touch to assess your nursing care needs. You will either receive visits at home or be asked to attend the clinic.
You will be discharged from the service when:
- you have finished your plan of care
- you no longer require specialist nursing care
- when your needs can be met by your healthcare provider.
If you are finding it difficult to attend the clinic, discuss this with your nurse.
At-home care
Services provided at home include:
- specialist nursing care to prevent a hospital admission or follow-up support for patients after they leave hospital — this includes caring for people who have had a stoma, or tracheostomy
- home-based chemotherapy services
- assessment and treatment of complex and chronic wounds — for example Doppler assessments or compression bandaging
- compression bandaging
- venous leg ulcer care
- Doppler assessment
- administering medication at home
- assessing respiratory conditions and support managing chronic respiratory disease, including providing oxygen to be used at home and other support to improve lung function
- help with eating through feeding tubes
- care of patients with long-term conditions
- continence assessment and treatments, including bladder scanning and treatment of children with chronic bed wetting conditions
- palliative care services, in partnership with Mary Potter Hospice
- short-term home support services, personal care and home help.
- Meals on Wheels
- IV therapy.
There is no fee for home-based care provided by our district nurses.