I have been asked to examine the possibility of extending our 'out of hours' District Nursing Service provision and would be grateful for information about what provision is made in other areas, including what level of care is offerred and whether it is provided by the existing day DN team or whether it required extra staff.
I would also like to know how long the current services have been running and what are the reactioins of staff members to any changes. - both before and after implementation.

Many thanks
Jill

Hi Jill,
We do have a 24hour DN service. from 5pm till 11pm there are several Staff nurses (approx 4), one sister and HCA`s on duty. The staff visit terminally ill patients, , some diabetics who are unstable, patients who phone up with catheter problems, patients who need intermediate care arranging overnight and those who have been seen in EAU who also need care overnight. The range of interventions is similar to that of the Day DN service, but there are less wounds that need attention as these are manged by the day staff. From 11pm There is a night sister on duty, with a HCA. All trained staff have an accompanying HCA for safety purposes. The HCA carry out simplar tasks, take phone calls for the trained staff when they are out and about visiting patients, as well as complete the accompanying admin.
All are supported by the OOHs team at out walk in centre and there is a G.P available most nights.
Hope this helps
Gina