Community nurse role ditched

Published on Friday 26 June 2009 23:11

UNIONS yesterday welcomed moves to stop a controversial new role for nurses working in the community being forced on the NHS in Scotland.

Pilots schemes have looked at creating a new post of "community health nurse" to absorb the jobs of district nurse, health visitor, public health nurse and school nurse under one title.

However, the Scottish Government said it would instead consider "career development for registered nurses within the existing community nursing professions, recognising existing work with this staff group".

But pilot areas that want to continue trials of the new role can do so until they have been evaluated, ministers said.

Unions, which had warned the generic role could lead to the dilution of skills held by different types of nurse, welcomed the news. Bridget Hunter, Unison Scotland's lead officer for nursing, said: "This is a major triumph for our members in community nursing. After almost three years our concerns have been accepted as valid.

"Generic community nursing was from day one deeply unpopular with staff, who believed it diluted specialist jobs and reduced the service the community was likely to receive."

Royal College of Nursing Scotland director Theresa Fyffe said:

"This is good news not only for nurses working in our communities but also for patients, who will continue to have access to the specialist skills of nurses in the community, essential to the delivery of high-quality care."