Walk to celebrate 150 years of district nursing

To celebrate 150 years since district nurses were first introduced, a team of nurses from NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale will be completing a sponsored walk around Hollingworth Lake on Sunday (17 May) at 11am.

District nurses are a vital part of the community, visiting people in their own homes or in residential care homes, providing care for patients and supporting family members.

As well as providing direct patient care, district nurses also have a teaching role, working with patients to enable them to care for themselves or with family members teaching them how to give care to their relatives.

They play a vital role in keeping hospital admissions and readmissions to a minimum and ensuring that patients can return to their own homes as soon as possible.

Karen Wagstaff, clinical lead for district nursing at NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, said: “I’ve been working in district nursing for more than 15 years and the service has gone through number some significant changes and developments.

"Demand for home care has never been higher and our service had around 140,580 patient contacts last year.

"As well as providing day care, many aren’t aware that we also provide a night service for patients with the greatest health needs and also a treatment room.

“When the service was established in 1859, its main focus was to tackle the public health and care needs of the most vulnerable populations. Whilst these principles still ring true in the modern world, district nursing is now recognised as a specialist field, with nurses often working in highly technical and advanced roles.”

The team is urging anyone who has benefited from the service, be that friends, family or well-enough patients, to join in with the celebratory walk.

The walk will start at the rowing club, once around the lake and finish at Littleborough Rugby Club where a buffet lunch will be served.

“It would be a huge boost to our team of district nurses to see people on the day showing their support,” added Karen.