Community Nurse Jobs & Recruitment in the UK
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What is a Community Nurse?
Community nurses, also known as district nurses, provide high quality care in the community outside of a hospital environment. If you’re looking to take up one of our many community nurse jobs, you’re likely to find yourself at patients’ homes, GP surgeries and residential care homes. Being a community nurse requires good listening skills and the ability to relate to people of all backgrounds. A passion for care and patience for teaching are also important qualities within this profession as the work includes educating others on the basics of healthcare.
Professionals in community nurse jobs will work extremely varied shift patterns, visiting patients with a range of conditions. Clients will usually include elderly people with health concerns, physically disabled people and those with terminal illnesses. Patients are often referred to community nurses for follow-up treatment after discharge from a hospital or on the advice of their GP. The daily tasks for a community nurse cover a lot of ground, ranging from the assessment and treatment of wounds to helping diabetic patients manage their condition.
Nurses working in a community role will typically:
- Assess patients and plan for their ongoing care
- Carry out clinical nursing procedures
- Take urine and blood samples, administer medicine, dress wounds and set up drips
- Provide management for registered and non-registered staff, and those who are training
- Give emotional support to patients and families
To be eligible for community nursing jobs, you will need between one and two years’ experience as a qualified Adult Nurse and a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approved degree is essential. It will also help to have completed, or at least be working towards, qualifications in management and leadership.
What Does a Community Nurse Earn?
The salary of a community nurse is between £26,041 and £34,876, which may increase to £41,000 for team managers. Some community nurses need to be on-call out of hours, plus work evening and weekend shifts. If a full-time role doesn’t suit your circumstances, you may find a locum community nurse position much more appealing to your lifestyle.
Locum Community Nurse Jobs
Although working in a permanent role might feel like the better choice, you may discover that a locum position could offer you a more varied and valuable experience. It’s therefore important to consider both options and weigh up the pros and cons.
The flexible hours of a locum role could free up more time for you to study, work a second job or focus on your family life. A locum position gives you the freedom to be your own boss until you find a permanent job to stick with. You’ll also gain invaluable experience as a locum in different hospitals, learning the varying working practices for each position. Although working as a locum community nurse is a fantastic opportunity, it is important to bear in mind that you won’t be eligible for a workplace pension scheme as well as sick, holiday or maternity/paternity pay.
