43% decline in District Nurse numbers since 2009, warns Nuffield Trust

The Nuffield Trust has published a report highlighting critical shortages in District Nursing, with a 43% decline in District Nurse numbers since 2009 and one in four district nurses leaving the profession.

District Nurses are key to the Government's plans to move care closer to home. District Nurses are also fundamental to homecare providers managing delegated healthcare tasks, end of life care or continence care, for example. The report draws attention to significant regional disparities, with some regions having more than four times as many District Nurses as others.

The authors call for urgent reviews of the training structures for District Nurses and investigation of other support for their roles (for example, technological support) in order to attract and retain the workforce that will be needed in future.