Jason Beckford-Ball looks at the increase in lifestyle-related conditions like stroke and asks the question...
Is community nursing in danger of becoming an emergency service?
Ever complained about a lack of proper resources, the difficulty of getting the right dressing, or the traffic on your morning commute? Sue Hill takes us on a visit to rural Uganda, where access to any healthcare at all is a luxury that many can’t afford...
With the Conservative party defying the polls and exceeding the nation’s expectations by winning a clear majority, what could the next five years mean for the NHS and community nurses?
A new UK-wide community pilot project for people with chronic kidney disease is due to start in summer 2015. ASSIST-CKD — a programme to spread eGFR graph surveillance for the early identification, support and treatment of people with progressive chronic kidney disease — is supported by the Health Foundation and led by Kidney Research UK, the national charity dedicated to research that will lead to better treatments and cures for kidney disease.
At the end of 2014, Colostomy Association trustee, Wendy Hetherington, launched a new national helpline for parents of children with bowel and bladder dysfunction. The Junior Ostomy Support Helpline (JOSH) is staffed entirely by parents of children with bowel and bladder conditions and provides a much-needed lifeline to families.
Before any members of the general public jet-off for an exotic holiday this summer, there is one person they will have to see first — and it’s not their travel agent. The majority of UK travel health and immunisation advice is provided by practice nurses, and with the growth of foreign travel this is fast becoming an integral part of the service we deliver.
At Marie Curie we like to think we are there for people living with any terminal illness and their families. We offer expert guidance to help people get the most from their time and believe that everyone living with a terminal illness should have access to the care and support they need to meet their individual needs.
In each issue of JCN we ask a clinical expert in a particular field to take a look at a therapy area and examine some everyday problems that community nurses may experience. In this issue, we look at an important precursor to compression therapy...
Compression therapy is the ‘gold standard’ for patients with lower limb problems. But achieving success is about more than simply applying compression bandaging or hosiery. We asked Trudie Young, tissue viability nurse and director of education and training at the Welsh Wound Innovation Centre, how to ensure that the limb is properly prepared to receive compression, a process that involves assessment, good skin care and debridement.
Amputation surgery can be traumatic and life-changing for patients and many struggle to come to terms with the loss of a limb. Wounds that fail to heal following surgery can have an impact on each individual’s rehabilitation process. It is important to provide the correct management for these wounds to facilitate healing and enable the patient to work towards mobilisation. Equipping community nurses with the knowledge and skills to assist patients in managing their residual limbs can improve the time from amputation to ambulation. Similarly, overcoming problems with patients' skin; achieving properly filling prosthesis; and managing the ‘wear and tear’ of prosthetic limbs are all challenging aspects in the management of this patient group.
The phasing out of the Liverpool Care Pathway and the introduction of the Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People’s (LACDP’s) five priorities of care has enabled clinicians working in end-of-life care to step back and re-evaluate their practice (LACDP, 2014). The review of end-of-life care services, More Care, Less Pathway (Neuberger, 2013) highlighted areas that needed urgent improvement. These included recognising when a person is dying but understanding the need for ongoing assessment; having a senior named clinician for all patients; and improving the communication skills of all clinicians involved in end-of-life care through the development of educational programmes. Non-malignant diseases are particularly challenging and in these cases it can be hard to recognise when a person is nearing the end of his or her life. Community matrons have their own unique relationship with the people on their caseload and can often provide untapped expertise and support as their condition deteriorates.
