District Nursing

District nursing team

District nurses

Emma West

Verity Cooke

Sara Drake

Availability

Sonning Common Health Centre

Our role

Welcome to the Sonning Common Health Centre District Nursing Team

What is our role?

Our role is to assess the health needs of people who are housebound and plan a programme of care to meet those needs. 

Employed by  Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, we work both independently and collaboratively with the Primary Health Care Team at Sonning Common Health Centre.  Our office is within the Health Centre. Liaising with statutory and voluntary agencies such as social services, specialist resources and associations, is also a very important part of our work.

A patient is deemed to be housebound when they are unable to leave their home environment through a physical or psychological illness.  A patient is not considered housebound if he or she is able to leave their home with minimal assistance.  For example unassisted/assisted visits to the doctor, dentist, hairdresser, supermarket, social events. Patients requiring transport can contact the FISH voluntary agency or taxi services.  FISH also runs a weekly  bus service to and from Binfield Heath. 

As well as providing professional support, skilled nursing care, health education and advice to patients, relatives and carers, we also teach undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students, health care assistants and medical students. 
 

How can you contact us? 

Should you wish to speak to one of us in person, we would normally be available in the office between 8.30 – 9.30 am.   At other times, if we are not available you can leave a message with the Health Centre reception on (0118) 9722188.  The reception phone is however switched off from 1.00 - 2.00 pm.  We will respond to your call as soon as we are able to do so. 

As district nurses we are not an emergency service.  However, if you have an urgent nursing problem which cannot wait until the following day, the receptionist will endeavour to contact us via our mobile phones.

Should you come into reception wishing to see a district nurse, we may not always be immediately available and you may be asked to make an appointment.

Our normal working day is 8.30 am – 4.30 pm and messages left after 4.00 pm will not normally be dealt with until the following working day. 

At weekends and bank holidays and between 6.30 pm and 8.00 am Monday to Friday,  you should contact the Oxfordshire out of hours service on 0845 345 8995

Prescriptions 

If we are visiting you for a nursing need and you have no friend/neighbour/relative/carer to fetch a prescription from the chemist for you, we may deliver it to you on a planned visit. However, this is not something we can routinely undertake, due to our workload commitments.  You may ask Carson's chemist to deliver it for you if they dispense your medication.  An alternative is to contact FISH or Age Concern (telephone numbers below). 

Nursing equipment/aids

Should nursing equipment/aids be delivered to you, unless you are instructed that they are the property of the district nurses, please do not return them to the Health Centre. There should be a label on the equipment with a telephone number on it for Mediquip.  Please phone them directly for collection.  If equipment was obtained from any hospital it should be returned there. 

Feedback

As a team, we are committed to improving and developing our service and if you wish to pass on any comments or complaints regarding your care, please do not hesitate to discuss this with any member of the team, either during your visit or by contacting us.

We are very grateful to Sonning Common Community Care Fund who provide the district nursing team with equipment to improve patient care. Should you wish to make any donations to this valuable local resource, the fund secretary is Mrs Joan Thorne  (0118) 9723383.

Other useful telephone numbers

Private nursing care services and help