Your District Nursing Team
District Nursing
District nurses provide nursing care for patients who have a clinical need to be cared for in their own home or in a specialist clinic.
The District Nursing services operates 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
Our district nursing teams cannot offer specific visiting times unless your treatment is time specific.
District nurses care for people with chronic long-term conditions, chronic wound, post-operative wound, palliative care, and specific nursing conditions that require home visits.
For those patients who are asked to attend a clinic setting for District Nursing Care
While we realise it may be difficult for you to attend a clinic because you have no transport, we cannot offer home visits for this reason alone.
Neighbours, relatives, and voluntary transport services will able to help you attend your appointment. Please ask your District Nursing team or GP for contact details of voluntary transport should you require it.
As part of your care plan, visiting schedules and clinic appointments will be reassessed on a regular basis.
Schedules may be altered at short notice to meet the clinical needs of other patients.
The District Nursing Team
All members of the District Nursing team wear a uniform and an identification badge (ID) bearing University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay logo, photographic ID, name and role.If the person visiting you does not have an ID then you may refuse entry to your home.
The district nursing team consists of registered practitioners, assistant practitioners, health care support workers and administration. Your care will be undertaken by the most appropriate person in the team and this may vary from visit to visit.
Staff in training may accompany a team member with your consent. If you do not wish to participate in staff training, please let a member of staff know.
If you would like a chaperone for any elements of your care please inform staff before your planned visit.
You will be provided with contact details for your District Nursing team.
What you can expect from your District Nursing Team
- Support for you, your family and carers.
- Education on your clinical condition.
- Promote self-care.
- A professional compassionate service treating you with dignity and respect.
- Assistance with safe, early discharge from our service or hospital.
- Prevention of avoidable hospital admissions where possible.
- Work with GP services.
- Work with other agencies, to provide your care and outline their role and responsibilities in your care.
- Care delivered in the most appropriate place and by the most appropriate person.
What District Nursing teams require at our visits or clinic appointments
- Our safety: we expect to work in an environment that is safe and free from abuse.
- Pets: during any visit pets must be removed from the room or secured within a suitable pet enclosure.
- Smoking: to protect our staff from second-hand smoke, we ask patients and other people not to smoke 30 minutes prior to the arrival of staff for the visit and during the visit.
- Storage: please provide adequate safe storage for any equipment and dressings you may need.
- Prescriptions: please arrange for dressings and prescriptions to be collected from the pharmacy so they are available for the District Nursing team at the visit. Patients eligible to pay for their prescriptions or have a prepayment/exemption certificate should inform the District Nursing team.
- Medications: you or your carer are responsible for safe disposal of drugs, medications and dressings which remain in your property when they are no longer required.
- Moving and handling: to promote safety for patients and staff we do not lift patients manually.
Staff will be expected during their visit to wear Trust-approved uniform and protective equipment.
Staff will not be able to remove this uniform or protective equipment at your request, for example, a request to remove footwear to enter a house. Over shoes can be made available at your request.
Self Care
The District Nursing team promote education & self-care where possible and this includes supporting carers / family to deliver care.
Self-Care plans will be discussed with patients during your episode of care. Staff will educate on risk and benefits of the proposed treatment plan. Patients will be provided with a Self-Care care plan and a copy will be photographed to added to our electronic patient records.
Self-Care plans will be reviewed on a regular basis and on any changes in clinical condition.
Staff will provide you with contact details for your team should there be any problems with your Self-Care plan.
Information Sharing
Medical Records
Your medical records are held by your GP.
To provide you with a better service, we will ask your consent to view your medical records during your episode of care. This will enable practitioners to see what medication you are currently taking, see details of any recent medical problems, see results of recent blood tests, hospital admissions and investigations relevant to your care.
Nursing records
When we visit you at home, we may leave nursing records with you if needed.
Records from District Nursing visits are stored electronically with our teams . These records link to other agencies such as GPs.
Photography
It may be necessary to complete photography during your care. This may include taking photographs of wound, self-care plans, equipment and other documentation.
Consent for any photgraphy will be taken in line with Trust policy. All photographs are taken with a mobile devices which is supplied by the Trust. Any photographs are loaded to your nursing records and then deleted from the mobile device.