Community and district nursing

Community nursing teams provide valuable care in or close to people’s homes. Their expert leadership, clinical skills and knowledge enables them to support people to manage their long term conditions and maximise their independence. This in turn can prevent their admission into hospital and enable them to be discharged more quickly.

Providing complex care and supporting families, community and district nurses work in people’s homes, in primary care settings, care homes and clinics. They also provide outreach services to those who may not have a secure home.

Our community and district nursing teams are key to delivering the ambition to increase care in the community as set out in the Long Term Plan (LTP). The Interim NHS People Plan sets out the vision for people who work in the NHS to enable them to deliver the LTP.

As part of these ambitions, Health Education England (HEE) has a key role in raising the profile of nursing careers in the community and in supporting nurses into careers in community settings. We can do this by growing pre-registration clinical placement capacity, including an emphasis on high-quality learning experiences being provided within community settings as we know this influences people’s choice of careers when they qualify as a nurse. There is also a clear commitment to work with partners to identify how we support growth in the primary and community workforce. 

To support the development of this role, HEE has pledged £18.5 million to support community nurses who wish to take the specialist practitioner qualification.

We have also produced a film, in partnership with the Queen’s Nursing Institute. The film showcases the important roles played by community and district nurses and encourages more people to consider a career in community nursing.

Watch the film below.

Explore the role in more detail on the Health Careers website or explore the RCN careers resource.