Community nursing: redesign in Scotland

The report ‘Visible, accessible and integrated care’ (VAIC) proposes a new Community Health Nurse (CHN) model which involves the combination of the four current disciplines of district nursing, public health nursing (health visiting and school nursing) and family health nursing into a single generic role (Scottish Executive, 2006b). The Queen’s Nursing Institute in Scotland (QNIS) wished to identify the implications of the VAIC report; a series of national focus groups were held throughout Scotland during 2007 with key stakeholders, initially including managers and senior nurses, practitioners, staff nurses and educationalists, and later family health nurses, practice nurses, school nurses, and General Practitioners. Finally, a patient and carers’ focus group was held to establish a public perspective on the changes. This article summarizes the key findings from the QNIS focus groups and highlights the emerging themes concerning the implementation of VAIC.