Our smart thinking and innovation can transform primary healthcare services
Turning the spotlight on nurses’ smart thinking and innovation in managing long-term conditions in prisons, developing a transgender primary care service and providing holistic support to armed forces veterans in the community.
Three challenging healthcare settings – prisons, transgender services and holistic support for armed forces veterans – provide inspiring nursing success stories
That nurses work under some of the most challenging and pressurised circumstances with a variety of disadvantaged and marginalised patient groups is not news to anyone, but the level of smart thinking and innovation that emerges from these difficult contexts can be deeply inspiring, and sometimes groundbreaking.
Exploring developments in some of primary healthcare’s most demanding settings
Three of our latest evidence & practice articles explore developments in some particularly tough areas of primary healthcare. The UK’s prisons are surely among the most demanding healthcare settings. Prison populations are disproportionately affected by risk factors for chronic conditions, the management of which are hampered by complex structural and resourcing issues.
In Addressing challenges in the management of long-term conditions in prisons, we look at how measures such as improved nurse training and a more joined up approach can turn a negative situation into a positive opportunity to improve healthcare outcomes.
Nurse-led services set a precedent for patient-centred care
When it comes to pioneering nursing work, the Bridge clinic at Southwark, the first of its kind in England, is at the forefront of specialised transgender healthcare. Transgender people experience multiple challenges accessing healthcare, including discrimination and a raised risk of mortality. Developing a transgender primary care service: the Bridge at Southwark shows how the nurse-led service sets a precedent for patient-centred, gender-affirming care, such as bridging hormone prescriptions, alongside the more typical primary care services.
‘Inventive thinking and the professional adaptability of nurses lies at the heart of achieving positive outcomes’
Finally, Providing holistic support to veterans in the community: a service from Help for Heroes focuses on the problems accessing healthcare experienced by armed forces veterans returning to civilian life. In 2015 Help For Heroes established the Veterans Clinical Service, the nurses on the team specialising in aiding veterans in the community to avoid any deterioration in their conditions while they wait for NHS treatment.
All three scenarios have their own unique aspects but inventive thinking and the professional adaptability of nurses lies at the heart of achieving positive outcomes.
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