EVALUATION OF HEALTH CENTRE COMMUNITY NURSE TEAM

This report gives an account of the work during six months of a community nurse team attached to the doctors working from a new health centre. The team consisted of two community nurses, who had both health visiting and Queen's nursing qualifications, and a State-enrolled nurse. The community nurses, in addition to undertaking all the health visiting for the population at risk, assessed the social and nursing needs of patients at the request of the general practitioners and ensured that these needs were met. When necessary they undertook practical nursing tasks in the home and in the health centre, but most of the bedside nursing in the home was done by the State-enrolled nurse. The needs of the population at risk were such that only one State-enrolled nurse could usefully be employed, and this proved to be a considerable disadvantage. Despite this, the experimental work pattern held advantages to patients, doctors, and nurses, and is potentially capable of providing a satisfying and economic division of responsibilities, with different tasks being carried out by the individual most appropriately qualified. © 1969, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.