Lib Dems Condemn district nurse withdrawal
Liberal Democrat spokesman Dr Charles West has today criticised Shropshire County PCT for withdrawing district nurses from local GP Practices.
"We are hearing more and more about the need to make it possible for patients to die at home if that is what they want," said Dr West, "but the local PCT is making this more difficult. What seriously ill or dying patients want is a local team: a doctor and a district nurse who they know and trust, and who can communicate well, and easily, with each other."
"Over the last twenty years we have been developing closer and closer working relationships between GPs and District Nurses, and now the PCT have removed the district nurses back to a central base. I used to think that this was mainly a problem in the rural parts of the County, but as I talk to more and more Practices I am finding that poor communication is reducing the quality of patient care in Shrewsbury and our larger towns. The PCT really must think again. It is pointless inventing some new initiative for end of life care, if the basic services are not working."
Dr West has worked in General Practice, as an NHS manager in Shropshire and nationally in NHS Information.
Charles West
Parliamentary Candidate: Shrewsbury and Atcham Liberal Democrats