SK Nurses is a social enterprise organisation.  Our vision is to work closely with GPs and local communities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to help strengthen general practice and community nursing for the future and manage the rapidly rising demand for health care through:

• delivering community nursing services for adults in their own homes in a truly patient-centred and holistic way, promoting self-care and independence,
• providing a range of nurse led clinics that deliver good clinical outcomes for patients and value for money and
• delivering services to support the development, recruitment and retention of highly competent general practice and community nurses

SK Nurses work with local communities to pioneer new models of working to help find sustainable solutions to rising demand for community based health and social care services. Collaborative and partnership working is central to our approach.

DISTRICT NURSING

We face growing demand from an ageing population with increasingly complex care needs.  The proportion of those needing significant support from both the health and social care systems will continue to rise, as providers struggle to deliver on limited budgets and in the face of workforce shortages.  In this context, district nursing has an ever more important role.  We believe that an innovative model of domiciliary nursing that focuses on relationships, community integration, self-care and nurses self-management, could enable district nurses to deliver better quality care while reducing the burden on the system.

Our goal is to test a new model of community nursing in Cambridgeshire, inspired by the principles of Buurtzorg, Netherlands:

• Relationships & continuity:  a holistic model of care focused on nurse-patient relationships and a full understanding of the patient’s needs across both health and social care
• Deep community integration:  nursing teams embedded in the community that see patients in their social context, connecting them to informal and formal neighbourhood care networks that support them towards independence
• Patient self-management:  care that focuses on building patients’ confidence and ability to self-manage with the support of their community and social networks
• Self-organised nursing:  self-managed nursing teams with reduced bureaucracy, empowered to lead the assessment, planning and coordination of care to their patients and their patch
  

PRIVATE DISTRICT NURSING CONSULTATIONS

SK Nurses offer private home consultations to people requiring expert nursing advice and care in the community. Examples include:

Elderly people with multiple conditions
People with long term conditions
People with symptoms of dementia

Your first consultation will last approximately 1-2 hours. During the consultation, the nurse will ask about your health and your experience and allow you time to explain your needs and ask questions. Sometimes it is helpful to have a friend or relative with you during the consultation. Together, you and the nurse will explore the options available to you and make a plan to move forward. Subsequent consultations, if required, are tailored to your needs.

SAFER DISCHARGE HOME SERVICE

SK Nurses offer a service to support safe discharge home from hospital for people living in the Cambridge area. This is for people who may be going home alone or have others at home that need help too. It can be a particularly vulnerable time as you recuperate from surgery, injury or an episode of illness and work to regain your previous strength and abilities. By providing advice, support, and practical care in the first few days, SK Nurses can help you to regain your independence, confidence and avoid the possibility of a readmission. For more information about this service please click here.

ROUTINE LONG TERM CONDITION CLINICS

SK Nurses are able to provide well trained and clinically supervised nurses and health care assistants to deliver clinics in the Practice to support the proactive monitoring of patients with Long Term Conditions. These services can be set up on a “pick and mix” basis to complement the skills of directly employed Practice staff. Each service is set up with a named nurse and/or health care assistant who will be expected to work as part of the Practice team and to deliver an agreed amount of activity, to agreed standards, on agreed days.

SPIROMETRY

SK nurses are able to provide clinics for quality assured post-bronchodilator spirometry for patients with either risk factors requiring diagnosis or those with existing COPD requiring monitoring. The interpretation is made available to GPs and other members of the health team to inform decision making about the patient’s care and, as appropriate, shared with the patient to support their understanding of their condition and self-management. Onward referral for further lung function is recommended to GPs where there is diagnostic uncertainty.

SK Nurses are passionate about developing nurses to fulfil their potential and provide excellent nursing care.

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SK Nurses support nurse development through:

• Clinically focused education and networking events
• Group Supervision for Non Medical Prescribers (NMPs)
• Creating and maintaining good quality pre-registration student nurse placements

Our target audience are General Practice Nurses and Community Nurses however other healthcare professionals are welcome to attend our Education Events.

CLINICAL SUPERVISION AND MENTORSHIP

With a team of very experienced nurses, operational managers and HR professionals, SK Nurses are able to provide a range of supervision and mentorship services. This may include

• Individual mentorship as part of a career development plan
• Individual or group clinical supervision to strengthen professional responsibility and accountability
• Individual or group supervision to support an organisational change process
• Individual supervision to support performance improvement.

CONSULTANCY

The SK Nurses team have a track record of effectively engaging nurses to find real solutions for front line problems and implementing service improvement that has a direct and positive impact on patient care.