District Nursing Service

The district nurse team are based in the surgery and provide nursing care to patients during periods of illness/incapacity in non-hospital settings, such as the patients own home, residential care homes or health centres. Patients include those who are housebound, the elderly, the terminally ill, the disabled and those who have recently been discharged from hospital.

A fundamental part of district nursing is promoting healthy lifestyles and health education/teaching.

The teams work activities include:

• Accepting referrals from GP’s, hospitals, other agencies, patients and their relatives;
• Assessing, planning, implementing and managing the care of patients;
• Offering emotional support to patients, their families and carers, and teaching basic care-giving skills;
• Establishing links with patients’ families, carers and other health professionals;
• Identifying social care problems and liaising with appropriate organisations where necessary;
• Checking temperature, blood pressure and pulse readings, administering injections, wound care, leg ulcer care, taking blood and urine samples, continence care, palliative and terminal care;
• Assessing for and ordering equipment as required;
• Liaising with GP’s