Community Nursing | First Community Health Care

Specialist practitioners who head up a team of community nurses and health care assistants working with patients and their families with acute, complex and end-of-life needs to maximise their health and wellbeing.

What does the service provide?

The team provides a wide range of services to patients depending on individual needs, including:

Medication management including diabetes management
Wound care including pressure ulcer prevention advice and equipment provision
Leg ulcer management
End of Life care, ensuring patients can remain in their own home if this is their choice. This might involve ensuring the patient has the right drugs, so they are free of pain, that their last months, weeks, or days are as comfortable as possible and that the family are supported before, during and after a loved one’s death.
Catheter and continence care
Intravenous antibiotics
Chemotherapy disconnection
Phlebotomy

How to access the service

Only patients who are housebound can access the service. They can self-refer into the service, or a carer can do this on their behalf.

The team also receives referrals from GPs and other health or social care professionals. A health care professional will provide the teams telephone number to patients at their first visit.

They aim to triage calls within four hours during working hours and book appropriate appointments.

Hours of service

7 days a week, 365 days a year
8am - 11pm (if any urgent overnight nursing care is required your Community Nursing team will provide details of support and contact details)

There are five community teams that cover the east Surrey area visiting patients in their own home and residential care homes.