Visible, Accessible and Integrated Care, the Report of the Review of Nursing in the Community in Scotland was published on 14 November 2006 . The review was an action point from Delivering for Health.
Demographic changes and existing workforce pressures mean that there is a genuine need to update the future provision of nursing services in the community. This review was carried out in response to the challenges facing the delivery of quality healthcare to the people of Scotland in forthcoming years.
The report proposes a generic community health nurse model which will be tested in four development sites, NHS Borders, Highland, Lothian and Tayside over the next two years. These sites were chosen as the reflect the diverse nature of Scotland's geography and health needs.
Clear project and partnership arrangements are in place and a Programme Board has been established to steer, support and monitor progress as the new service model for nursing in the community is tested. Steering groups and project managers are also in place in each of the four development sites.
The Minister for Public Health has therefore decided that the testing of the new model and other workstreams should continue to allow an informed decision to be made in two years time about the future of the community nursing service.
Key pieces of work in terms of evaluation, education, workforce and workload will be undertaken.