Early support visits by district nurses to cancer patients at home: A multi-perspective qualitative study

Background:Many palliative cancer patients spend much of their last year at home. In the UK, district nurses make frequent support visits to patients and carers at this time, yet surprisingly little is known about their supportive role in palliative care. Current studies are limited to district nurses’ reports of practice, which offer limited insight into their content. Patients’ and carers’ views on district nurse support visits are largely unknown.Aim:To present findings of a multi-perspective study that explored how district nurse early support visits are both described and carried out.Design:Focus groups with district nurses to explore views on the purpose of early support visits. Observation of support visits to identify how they are conducted. Patient and carer interviews to elucidate and verify district nurse data.Setting and participants:Participants included 58 district nurses, 10 palliative care patients and nine carers from four Primary Care Trusts in contrasting urban and rural locations.Resul...