All together now
A STRIKING blue building is the new home for many of Hartlepool's district nurses.
It's impressive. So is the team based in it.
Since April, an integrated team of dedicated workers have called the plush new facilities in Masefield Road their home.
I met two of them. Sue Judge typifies the feeling of togetherness, teamwork and smoothness which is the whole ethos of the outfit.
That's because it is not just district nurses who are based at the centre. So are social workers, matrons, clinical support staff, and Macmillan nurses.
Sue is the integrated team manager who links them all together. She tells me of the joys of working with such a streamlined team.
"It's all about knowing that the care for the patients is seamless," she tells me.
"As district nurses, we have always worked closely with social services but now we have everyone in the same building. It is better for relationships. It is better for the team. It is better for the patients.
"It reduces frustration and not being able to get hold of someone."
Forty workers are based at Masefield Road and they make up the central and south integrated teams for Hartlepool.
They represent areas such as Greatham, the Fens, Seaton Carew, Elwick, Dalton Piercy, the Marina and centre of town.
The north team is based at the Phoenix Centre.
Sue explained how the new joint outlook was typical of the Pathways to Care focus on health being operated by the Government.
"If we have a patient who is going to be seen by a district nurse, they may also have a social need.
"The district nurse can come back and liaise with a social worker or perhaps an occupational therapist."
It means patients can get faster access to help on almost any issue.
"The emphasis is around care that is closer to home," says Sue. "It is reducing hospital admissions and giving patients the choice. It is saving on admissions to care homes, if they want to be cared for at home.
"And it is about patients who are terminally ill who want to die at home. It is patient choice."
District nurse Dawn Hamblett tells me what gives her the greatest job satisfaction.
"It is supporting the patient and family at home."
She can help patients to be referred to the right person for help with anything from chiropody advice to problems with having a shower at home.
It's a 24-hour service and Dawn adds: "It is very rewarding especially when people get better and we see them moving on."
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Weather for Hartlepool
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
