Specialist Nurses in the UK NHS

In the UK, nurses are taking on more responsibilities every day and are specialising in many different disciplines

There are specialist nurses in just about every discipline there is, from elderly care, diabetes, respiratory cardiac, medicine, anticoagulation, colorectal, urology, and many more.

These nurses are very highly skilled in their field, often giving lectures to junior doctor’s etc. They hold clinics and often are the professionals who recommend medications to doctors.

Some specialist nurses can prescribe limited medications, but the law in the UK governing nurse prescribing is still in its infancy. Usually, the specialist nurse recommends a drug and the doctor will prescribe it.

Nurse led clinics are very successful. They have helped to decrease waiting lists in the UK to much lower limits. It’s also been found patients respond better to nurses in clinics, probably because the patient tends to feel less intimidated by a nurse than a doctor.

In some hospitals, lots of nurse led initiatives have been set up very successfully.

One successful scheme in my hospital includes patients being seen in their own homes by a specialist respiratory nurse from the hospital instead of being admitted into hospital.

This is a win, win situation. The hospital saves the bed for a seriously ill person, and the patient is allowed to stay in their own home, being monitored carefully by the specialist nurse every day.

This scheme has been extended to specific cardiac patients who are monitored very carefully by the cardiac specialist nurse team.

The cardiac nurse is the person who gives advice and back up treatment to you if you have suffered a heart attack or any other cardiac problem.

In the Accident and Emergency department, there are very specialised cardiac nurses waiting for patients who come in with heart attacks.

These nurses go straight into action as soon as the patient is admitted, carrying out tests and prescribing and giving specialist drugs as needed. (In this emergency situation, as timing is so critical they are allowed to prescribe and administer the drugs).

The diabetic nurse specialist is another example of excellent practice. Again they hold clinics and give advice to patients on dosages of insulin etc.

Most of the specialist nurses mentioned above have a help line they encourage patients to use if concerned about any aspect of their illness. (Can you imagine picking the phone up and asking for one of the consultant doctors to ask advice etc? You would never get past his secretary)!

Seriously though, he would never have the time to do all his other work if he offered that type of service. That is where his specialist nurse comes into his/her own.

Specialist nurses are here to stay and they can only improve the health and welbeing of all those patients they come into contact with.