Specialist nurses

It is generally agreed that follow-up care at home from nurses specialising in heart failure benefits people coping with heart failure. As yet there is no requirement for local hospitals or GPs to provide specialist nurses in heart failure and most of those we spoke to had no access to such services. Since these interviews heart failure specialist nurses are now far more widely deployed. There are now roughly 300 specialist heart failure nurses in the community and 90% of these are British Heart Foundation affiliated.

His heart failure nurse visits him once a fortnight.

He usually prefers to go to hospital to see his heart failure nurse.

Thinks that heart failure nurse care has kept him out of hospital for 2 years.

Many said that specialist nurses had given them good advice about their medication, and one man thought that his nurse was in the best position to treat him as a whole person and drew on the experiences of other patients. Several people had felt able to talk to the specialist nurse about other problems connected to heart failure, for instance one man had been given advice about whether he could still go diving, and someone else had been sent on a course to help him stop smoking. Nurses were also described as open and frank in discussions about sensitive subjects such as having sex and issues about death and dying.

Finds his heart failure nurse extremely helpful and reassuring.

Feel his heart failure nurse explains things to him in depth.

His heart failure nurse has booked in him for a course to help him quit smoking.

Finds his heart failure nurse reassuring and honest about his prognosis.

Many people liked the fact that they could contact specialist nurses outside normal working hours if they needed to, for instance one man had phoned his nurse at the weekend because he felt unwell and she responded straight away. Others said that they tried not to contact their nurses out of hours though one man thought there should be a 24-hour help line for people with heart failure and that he wanted to see more of his nurse. Several people said that the service should be extended to cover the whole country and that more money should be allocated for heart failure nurses.

Feels he can contact his heart failure nurse anytime.

He doesn't like to call his heart failure nurse at anti-social hours.

Thinks that heart failure nurses should be available everywhere.

• Who gets access to specialist heart failure nurses?
• Can you request to have a specialist heart failure nurse?
• Are there plans for this kind of nursing service to be spread across all parts of the country?

Last reviewed March 2010.

Last updated March 2010.