Dying patients go without care as community nurses ‘on their knees’

Dying patients are going without care in their own homes because of a collapse in community nursing services, new data shared with The Independent reveals.

Across England a third of district nurses say they are now being forced to delay visits to end of life care patients because of surging demand and a lack of staff. This is up from just 2% in 2015. The situation means some patients may have to wait for essential care and pain medication to keep them comfortable.

Other care being delayed includes patients with pressure ulcers, wounds which need treating and patients needing blocked catheters replaced.

More than half of district nurses said they no longer have the capacity to do patient assessments and psychological care, in an investigation into the service.

Professor Alison Leary, director of the International Community Nursing Observatory, said her study showed the country was “sleepwalking into a disaster,” with patients at real risk of harm.

She said the situation was now so bad that nurses were being driven out of their jobs by what she called the “moral distress” they were suffering at not being able to provide the care they knew they should.

“People are at the end of their tether. District nurses are reporting having to defer work much more often than they did two years ago. What they are telling us is that the workload is too high. This is care that people don’t have time to do.”

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Source: The Independent, 29 November 2021