EDITORIAL EDITORIAL Consultant Editor Alison While Emeritus Professor of Community Nursing, King’s College London
Editor Rowan Dennison [email protected] Commercial Manager Andrew Wright [email protected] Group Classified Manager Rachel McElhinney [email protected] Circulation Director Sally Boettcher [email protected] Production Manager Jon Redmayne Production Assistant Larry Oakes Publishing Director Anthony Kerr [email protected] Associate Publisher Julie Smith Managing Director Jon Benson Chief Executive Officer Ben Allen EDITORIAL BOARD Ben Bowers Queen’s Nurse, Community Cancer Nurse Specialist, Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust Mandy Bowler Clinical Business Manager, South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust Julie Bliss Head of Department: Mental Health, King’s College London David Briggs Senior Lecturer, University of Hertfordshire Julie Clennell Head of Clinical Governance, County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust Jane Griffiths Lecturer in Community Nursing, University of Manchester Vanessa Heaslip Senior Lecturer, School of Health and Social Care,
Bournemouth University Maria Horne Senior Lecturer in Public Health, School of Health Studies, University of Bradford Julie Hughes Queens Nurse, Primary Care Change Manager, East Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Kay Kane Independent Consultant Catriona Kennedy School Director, Napier University Brian Nyatanga Senior Lecturer, University of Worcester Tricia Robinson Nurse Consultant, St. George’s Hospital, University of London Vera Todorovic Manager, Dietetics and Nutrition Service, Bassetlaw Hospital
UK PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Quarterly Direct Debit £33 Annual Direct Debit
£129
Annual Credit Card
£136
2yr Annual Credit Card £231 3yr Annual Credit Card £326 Subscribe online: www.magsubscriptions.com Subscribe by phone: +44 (0) 1722 716997 The British Journal of Community Nursing is published by MA Healthcare Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB Tel: +44 (0)20 7738 5454 Website: www.bjcn.co.uk
MA Healthcare Ltd is part of the Mark Allen Group
www.markallengroup.com © MA Healthcare Ltd, 2014. All rights reserved. No part of the British Journal of Community Nursing may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the Publishing Director. ISSN 1462-4753 Printed by Pensord Press Ltd, Blackwood, NP12 2YA Cover picture: Eyematrix/iStock
The paper used within this publication has been sourced from Chainof-Custody certified manufacturers, operating within international environmental standards, to ensure sustainable sourcing of the raw materials, sustainable production and to minimise our carbon footprint.
Bridging the divide
I
t is, perhaps, a strange time to be a health professional—and a strange time to be a community nurse in particular. Debate over the far-reaching consequences of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act rages on more than 2 years after the Bill was passed, with some lamenting the so-called privatisation of the NHS and others heralding a brave new world of care provision.Yet, as the population ages and the health service struggles to meet the resultant increased demand for care, it is notable that one point politicians, health professionals and the media seem to be able to agree upon is that care should continue to be moved out of the hospital and into people’s homes and local communities. One might therefore expect community and district nurses to be the most visible faces of the modern NHS, symbolic, as they are, of everything that health care in the UK stands for at the present time: high-quality, holistic care delivered to patients in a comfortable and familiar environment while cutting the overhead costs of hospital treatment.Yet, as Bob Hudson notes in his commentary (page 592) on the Five Year Forward View, NHS England’s (2014) most up-to-date vision for the health service, there remains a disconnection between the language used regarding the need to transfer resources to the community and the language used to name the parties that will embody this transfer. Which better ‘expert generalists’ to ‘engage communities’ and ‘empower patients’ (NHS England, 2014) than district nurses? Who better to provide ‘proactively targeted’ services for patients with complex needs than community clinical nurse specialists (whose unique contribution in rural Wales is demonstrated emphatically in an article by Debbie Roberts and colleagues on page 601). It seems as though many are content for community-based professionals to remain under the radar, even though the actual care that they provide should now be more highly prized than ever, according to current thinking. Perhaps part of the problem here lies in measuring and quantifying the incredible range of care and support that these nurses provide (a subject tackled by Michelle Burke on page 608), but it is clear that there is a need to acknowledge this vital work—both in terms of the language used by the Government and in the funding and resources provided by it. The alarming rate at which district nursing numbers have dropped in recent years—around 40% between 2002 and 2012—(Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013) serves to underline this disconnection between the prevalent philosophy regarding health care and the means with which it is delivered into the world. But the outlook is changing, albeit slowly: there were around 38% more newly qualified district nurses entering practice in 2014 than there were in 2013 (Queen’s Nursing Institute, 2014), thanks, in part, to the increase in institutions offering the qualification. It seems that we’re all agreed that community-based care is our future. Provided they are given the opportunity, community nurses are Rowan Dennison Editor the ones that can make it our present. BJCN Health and Social Care Information Centre (2013) NHS hospital and community health services (HCHS) workforce statistics in England, non-medical staff: 2002–2012. http://tinyurl.com/n8t3ke5 (accessed 27 November 2014) NHS England (2014) Five Year Forward View. http://tinyurl.com/movjjd6 (accessed 27 November 2014) Queen’s Nursing Institute (2014) Report on District Nurse Education in the United Kingdom 2013–14. http://tinyurl.com/pcyl2ct (accessed 27 November 2014)
British Journal of Community Nursing December 2014 Vol 19, No 12
577
Journal of Community Nursing. Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com by 138.253.100.121 on November 24, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. . All rights re
Editor Rowan Dennison [email protected] Commercial Manager Andrew Wright [email protected] Group Classified Manager Rachel McElhinney [email protected] Circulation Director Sally Boettcher [email protected] Production Manager Jon Redmayne Production Assistant Larry Oakes Publishing Director Anthony Kerr [email protected] Associate Publisher Julie Smith Managing Director Jon Benson Chief Executive Officer Ben Allen EDITORIAL BOARD Ben Bowers Queen’s Nurse, Community Cancer Nurse Specialist, Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust Mandy Bowler Clinical Business Manager, South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust Julie Bliss Head of Department: Mental Health, King’s College London David Briggs Senior Lecturer, University of Hertfordshire Julie Clennell Head of Clinical Governance, County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust Jane Griffiths Lecturer in Community Nursing, University of Manchester Vanessa Heaslip Senior Lecturer, School of Health and Social Care,
Bournemouth University Maria Horne Senior Lecturer in Public Health, School of Health Studies, University of Bradford Julie Hughes Queens Nurse, Primary Care Change Manager, East Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Kay Kane Independent Consultant Catriona Kennedy School Director, Napier University Brian Nyatanga Senior Lecturer, University of Worcester Tricia Robinson Nurse Consultant, St. George’s Hospital, University of London Vera Todorovic Manager, Dietetics and Nutrition Service, Bassetlaw Hospital
UK PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Quarterly Direct Debit £33 Annual Direct Debit
£129
Annual Credit Card
£136
2yr Annual Credit Card £231 3yr Annual Credit Card £326 Subscribe online: www.magsubscriptions.com Subscribe by phone: +44 (0) 1722 716997 The British Journal of Community Nursing is published by MA Healthcare Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB Tel: +44 (0)20 7738 5454 Website: www.bjcn.co.uk
MA Healthcare Ltd is part of the Mark Allen Group
www.markallengroup.com © MA Healthcare Ltd, 2014. All rights reserved. No part of the British Journal of Community Nursing may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the Publishing Director. ISSN 1462-4753 Printed by Pensord Press Ltd, Blackwood, NP12 2YA Cover picture: Eyematrix/iStock
The paper used within this publication has been sourced from Chainof-Custody certified manufacturers, operating within international environmental standards, to ensure sustainable sourcing of the raw materials, sustainable production and to minimise our carbon footprint.
Bridging the divide
I
t is, perhaps, a strange time to be a health professional—and a strange time to be a community nurse in particular. Debate over the far-reaching consequences of the 2012 Health and Social Care Act rages on more than 2 years after the Bill was passed, with some lamenting the so-called privatisation of the NHS and others heralding a brave new world of care provision.Yet, as the population ages and the health service struggles to meet the resultant increased demand for care, it is notable that one point politicians, health professionals and the media seem to be able to agree upon is that care should continue to be moved out of the hospital and into people’s homes and local communities. One might therefore expect community and district nurses to be the most visible faces of the modern NHS, symbolic, as they are, of everything that health care in the UK stands for at the present time: high-quality, holistic care delivered to patients in a comfortable and familiar environment while cutting the overhead costs of hospital treatment.Yet, as Bob Hudson notes in his commentary (page 592) on the Five Year Forward View, NHS England’s (2014) most up-to-date vision for the health service, there remains a disconnection between the language used regarding the need to transfer resources to the community and the language used to name the parties that will embody this transfer. Which better ‘expert generalists’ to ‘engage communities’ and ‘empower patients’ (NHS England, 2014) than district nurses? Who better to provide ‘proactively targeted’ services for patients with complex needs than community clinical nurse specialists (whose unique contribution in rural Wales is demonstrated emphatically in an article by Debbie Roberts and colleagues on page 601). It seems as though many are content for community-based professionals to remain under the radar, even though the actual care that they provide should now be more highly prized than ever, according to current thinking. Perhaps part of the problem here lies in measuring and quantifying the incredible range of care and support that these nurses provide (a subject tackled by Michelle Burke on page 608), but it is clear that there is a need to acknowledge this vital work—both in terms of the language used by the Government and in the funding and resources provided by it. The alarming rate at which district nursing numbers have dropped in recent years—around 40% between 2002 and 2012—(Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013) serves to underline this disconnection between the prevalent philosophy regarding health care and the means with which it is delivered into the world. But the outlook is changing, albeit slowly: there were around 38% more newly qualified district nurses entering practice in 2014 than there were in 2013 (Queen’s Nursing Institute, 2014), thanks, in part, to the increase in institutions offering the qualification. It seems that we’re all agreed that community-based care is our future. Provided they are given the opportunity, community nurses are Rowan Dennison Editor the ones that can make it our present. BJCN Health and Social Care Information Centre (2013) NHS hospital and community health services (HCHS) workforce statistics in England, non-medical staff: 2002–2012. http://tinyurl.com/n8t3ke5 (accessed 27 November 2014) NHS England (2014) Five Year Forward View. http://tinyurl.com/movjjd6 (accessed 27 November 2014) Queen’s Nursing Institute (2014) Report on District Nurse Education in the United Kingdom 2013–14. http://tinyurl.com/pcyl2ct (accessed 27 November 2014)
British Journal of Community Nursing December 2014 Vol 19, No 12
577
Journal of Community Nursing. Downloaded from magonlinelibrary.com by 138.253.100.121 on November 24, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. . All rights re
