How changes by GPs have affected community nurses

Crispin AH Fisher

doi:10.3399/bjgp25X742713

Intended for Healthcare Professionals

Louise Polak et al¹ provides a valuable reminder to GPs that changes they make to their working practices can (will) have repercussions for their community nurse colleagues. One issue that is not mentioned is collocation. The day that our hospital trust moved district nurses out of our surgery building to a community hospital marked the end of the close working relationships enjoyed for decades by local GPs and district nurses. Re-establishing collocation would address most of the concerns raised by the community nurses in their focus groups. It would not matter if home visits were delegated to paramedics or others — the nurse would still have the opportunity for a direct conversation with a GP, and vice versa. The perceived lack of ‘GP back-up’ would dissipate. Collocation of primary care teams with many allied professionals could bring benefits, but perhaps above all with our community nurse colleagues.

Reference

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1. Polak L,
2. Pollock K,
3. Barclay S,
4. Bowers B
(2025) How changes in GPs’ ways of working have affected community nurses: a qualitative study. Br J Gen Pract, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2024.0534.