District Nursing is part of Community Nursing and provides nursing and end of life care to patients in the community.  

The client group is patients over the age of eighteen (usually housebound) that require a nursing skill or procedure to be carried out in their own home. 

District nurses visit patients in their own homes/residential care homes, assess their healthcare needs, monitor the quality of care they receive, support their family members and are professionally accountable for delivery of care. 

As well as providing direct patient care, district nurses also have a teaching role, working with patients to enable them to care for themselves or with family members teaching them how to give care to their relatives.

District Nurses play a vital role in keeping hospital admissions and readmissions to a minimum, and ensuring that patients can return to their own homes as soon as possible. 

The services which the District Nursing Team provides include: 

• Assist patients to be independent and improve health
• Complex care
• Co-ordinate care and work with other agencies
• Long term conditions
• Palliative and terminal care
• Skilled nursing assessments
• Supported discharge
• Wound care/tissue viability

Patients can access contact details for their local District Nursing service within their yellow notes folder. Please see your GP in the first instance as referral to the service is required.