Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take to alleviate pressures on district nurses.

The Department is on track to deliver 50,000 more nurses in the National Health Service, supported by improved staff retention and enabling staff to return to practice, investment in a diversified training pipeline and ethical international recruitment. Through the NHS People Promise, all NHS staff in England, including district nurses, can receive rapid access to free and confidential mental health assessment and support via new Health and Wellbeing hubs.

In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement are delivering the Community Nursing Safer Staffing Tool, which will support community organisations to understand how nursing staffing levels should relate to changing workloads. A five-year National Community Nursing Plan is being developed to create attractive, fulfilling and flexible careers in community nursing, improve patient outcomes and experience through collaborative working with accelerated use of digital and data and increase the profile of community nurses.

Community nurses are also being trained as Professional Nurse Advocates to support colleagues’ mental health and wellbeing. This initiative has enhanced recruitment and retention, reduced sickness absence and staff turnover and improved patient experience.