The District Nurses

As it has been for many years, the purpose of the district nursing service is to provide professional nursing care to housebound patients in the community, to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and to facilitate early discharge from hospital.

District Nurses are registered nurses who have undertaken additional education and training as specialist community practitioners. Each district nursing sister manages a team, which usually consists of a number of community staff nurses (Registered Nurses) and health care assistants (HCA). Together they look after a ‘caseload’ of patients.

District Nursing is different from other nursing practice in other settings. District nurses work unsupervised and independently, and make their own decisions in quite complex situations. They work with individuals but also with families and communities and other agencies.