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Community Nursing Team – Guide
About the team
We’re a team of healthcare professionals, including district nurses, community nurses, healthcare assistants, assistant practitioners, and advanced practitioners.
We support people and their families/carers to help them manage their conditions and healthcare needs independently. We also work closely with GPs and other community health services to prevent
hospital admission and facilitate early discharge from hospital back home.
Who is the service for?
The service is available to housebound people who are aged 18 and over and are registered with a Bristol GP. We provide care for people who live in residential/sheltered accommodation – provided they meet the criteria as set out in our housebound policy.
What is meant by ‘housebound’?
A individual is housebound if they cannot leave their home at all, or if they require significant assistance to leave the house. This may be due to illness, frailty, surgery, disability, mental ill health, or because they are nearing the end of life. A person who is housebound would be unable to receive their healthcare in a GP practice or clinic.
A individual is not housebound if they are able to leave their home environment with minimal assistance and can attend their GP practice to see their GP or clinic to receive their healthcare. This includes: the ability
to use a wheelchair with no or minimal support; access to transport via relatives/friends; or the ability to use a taxi or community transport (e.g. Dial-a-Ride).
Visiting times
The nature of our work means we must prioritise people who are very unwell. While we will do our best to see you at your preferred time each week (between 8:00-19:00), please be aware that this may not always be possible. Thank you for your understanding.
What you can expect from us
- With your consent, we will assess you and work with you to agree a plan of care
- We will support you to learn more about your condition and help you to develop the knowledge and skills to manage your care independently
- We will discharge you from the service once your planned treatment is completed, or if it is more appropriate for you to access other services instead – for example, your GP or practice nurses
Completing your care
During our initial visits to you, our team will identify an estimated date to review your care or discharge you from the service. We also continually review the needs of individuals to ensure they still meet the criteria for
the service. This means that our care for you will end once you are no longer housebound, your clinical needs have been met, or if no clinical needs are evident within 18 weeks of last contact. After this, you will be
advised to contact your GP practice or other clinic-based services. If you have any concerns, please speak to your GP surgery who will be able to put you in touch with the Community Nursing Team Manager for your
practice.
What we ask of you
Hand hygiene
Please have soap and paper towels (for example, kitchen roll) ready for our visit. This means we can wash our hands thoroughly and help prevent the spread of infection.
Visits
Please let us know if there are any changes which may affect your planned visits – for example, hospital appointments.
Prescriptions
Please take responsibility for ordering your own prescriptions.
We have zero tolerance towards violence and aggression. Any physical, verbal or psychological abuse towards our staff will result in the withdrawal of our service.
Contact Us
If you need to change your appointment, request an urgent visit or have been recently discharged from the service and need to make a new referral please call.
How are we doing
You can also feedback online
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