In each issue of the Journal of Community Nursing we investigate a hot topic currently affecting our readers. Here, Jason Beckford-Ball looks at the proposed sugar tax in NHS hospitals and health centres, and asks the question...
Getting patients to access the care they need is not always easy. Jason Beckford-Ball spoke to Laura Westwick about one project in east London that is connecting cancer patients with local services...
Working in a so-called caring profession does not always protect us from difficult colleagues. Carol Singleton discusses her own experience of workplace bullying and what you can do about it...
The Colostomy Association has launched a new service to change the lives of thousands of people living with a stoma across the world. Stoma Aid is a new initiative that will collect unused ostomy supplies in the UK and redistribute them to patients living with a stoma in developing countries that cannot afford or access supplies.
An ageing population and increase in people living with long-term conditions have heightened the practical and financial pressures on health services. Preventative public health projects are now viewed as crucial to protecting health, reducing the financial and personal costs of illness, and consequently protecting health services.
For researchers and policy-makers, nurses working in primary care are notoriously hard to reach; they are
without a management structure with a chief nurse or director of nursing at the top of the organisation, as is the case for their colleagues working in a community or hospital-based provider. So, when more than 3,400 general practice nurses (GPNs) recently completed a major Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) survey, it sent a clear message that the nurses had a story to tell.
Undoubtedly, the challenges faced by community nurses are on the rise due — but not limited to — several factors: the NHS being under severe financial scrutiny; the drive for a seven-day service; policies that mean more care is being delivered in the community setting; and rising patient numbers resulting in less time available to spend with each patient. Coupled with a reduction in recruitment which means that there still aren’t enough nurses in the profession, this is a potent mix of factors that has contributed to a creaking NHS.
The contribution that community nurses make in terms of patient care is immeasurable. Many patients would prefer to be treated at home if they could and there has long been a drive to move care out of hospitals and into the community.
Meningococcal disease is a contagious bacterial condition that can result in life-threatening sepsis as well as the development of extensive blistering and lesions. This article presents the topical management regimen for one young patient’s wound care in conjunction with the community and outpatient paediatric teams. Practical tips on how to manage complex wounds in children will be outlined to demonstrate that such cases can be managed effectively by nursing teams in a relaxed home environment and outpatient setting, preventing readmission and supporting the emotional recovery of the child and parents. The success of this case study and the reintegration of the child back into daily life and school was attributed to the joint working and collaboration between parents and child, and tissue viability, paediatric and community nursing teams.
