District nurses provide nursing care at home for patients. We want to help you live independently, and support you through difficult times. This service is for you if your medical condition means that you are unable attend a clinic, for example GP surgery or day units, or if it is the most appropriate setting, to provide your treatment at home.

As your condition improves, a nurse will assess you and help you to care for yourself. We will expect you to attend appointments at your GP surgery. While we realise it may be difficult for you to attend a surgery because you have no transport, we are unable to offer home visits for this reason alone. Neighbours, relatives and voluntary transport services may be able to help you attend your appointment.

The district nursing service operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. We are unable to offer timed visits unless your treatment needs to be provided at specific times. Due to the nature of the service, we may need to change your planned visit date at short notice.

The district nursing team consists of a district nursing sister or charge nurse, senior community staff nurses, community staff nurses, assistant practitioners, health care support workers and student/ apprentice nurses.

The most appropriate person in the team will undertake your care and this may vary from visit to visit.

How to recognise a member of your District Nursing Team

All members of the District Nursing Team wear a uniform and an identification badge bearing the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust name, photographic ID, name and role.

The nurse who visits you will show you their identification badge before entering your home. If the nurse does not have an identification badge, please do not let them in.

What you can expect from us
  • Help with your return to health and independence
  • Support for you, your family and carers through illness at home
  • Work with other agencies, for example homecare agencies, to provide your care
  • A professional, compassionate service treating you with dignity and respect
  • Assistance with a safe, early discharge from hospital
  • Prevention of unnecessary hospital admissions where possible
  • Care delivered in the most appropriate place.
What we expect from you in return
  • Our safety: We expect to work in an environment that is safe and free from abuse, the trust follows a zero tolerance policy
  • Hand washing: If you can, please give our nurses access to warm running water, liquid soap and paper towels or clean towels. The nurse may also use their own hand gel to disinfect their hands.
  • Pets: please remove all pets from the room where your care is to be provided and at all times during a clinical procedure, to be safe.
  • Smoking: To protect our staff from second-hand smoke, we ask patients and other people not to smoke while staff are visiting.
  • Storage: Please provide adequate safe storage for any equipment and dressings you need.
  • Prescriptions: Please arrange for your dressings and prescriptions to be collected from the pharmacy so that they are available for the nurse visit.
  • Drugs: You or your carer are responsible for the safe disposal of drugs, medications and dressings that 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. If your movement is restricted, we will help you move using a hoist or other moving and handling equipment. Any equipment provided is on a loan basis. You or your family or carers will be responsible for escalating any concerns with your equipment or pressure areas. You will be provided with a separate information booklet ‘Maintenance of pressure relieving equipment’.
Sharing information

Your medical record is held by your GP. To provide you with a better service, we may ask for your consent to view your medical record. This will enable nurses to see what medication you are currently taking, see details of any recent relevant medical problems, and see the results of any recent blood tests.

Once your treatment has been completed and you are discharged from the district nursing service, we will no longer be able to access your medical records.

Your nursing record: District nursing notes are stored on your electronic patient care record. This means professionals providing care in your home may use a laptop during your visit in order to access these records to facilitate your care. For some care delivery, we may need to leave a file containing your nursing record with you.

Please look after this carefully and return it to the district nursing team when you no longer require the visits. The contents of these records are confidential between you, the nursing service and any other health professional involved in your care. We will not share them without your consent.

 

Confidentiality

‘The Trust’s vision is to keep your information safe in our hands.’ We promise to use your information fairly and legally, and in-line with local and national policies. You have a right to understand how your information is used and you can request a copy of the information we hold about you at any time.

For further information on confidentiality contact the Information Governance Team:

Information.Governance@ncic.nhs.uk | 01228 603961

Feedback

We appreciate and encourage feedback, which helps us to improve our services. If you have any comments, compliments or concerns to make about your care, please contact the Patient, Advice & Liaison Service:

pals@ncic.nhs.uk | 01228 814008 or 01946 523818

If you would like to raise a complaint regarding your care, please contact the Complaints Department:

complaints@ncic.nhs.uk | 01228 936302