NHS Confederation responds to new report warning about the 'dire state' of district nursing

Responding to a new report from the Nuffield Trust warning that a lack of district nurses risks jeopardising plans to shift care closer to home, Rory Deighton, acute and community director at the NHS Confederation, said:

“District nurses are the bedrock of NHS community services and their importance will only grow as the NHS works towards the government’s ambition to shift care away from hospitals and closer to people’s homes. But it is clear from this report that these services are under immense pressure from a combination of growing patient need and fewer staff.

“NHS England’s recent Medium-Term Planning Framework predicts a three per cent annual growth in community services’ activities will be needed to keep pace with rising demand. This will require more district nurses, not fewer – both to keep existing services running and to bring more care closer or into patients’ homes. We look forward to feeding into the upcoming workforce plan about how to achieve this across the NHS over the next ten years.”