The NHS needs to start a 'revolution' in community nursing says health secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Speaking at the Florence Nightingale conference this morning, Mr Hunt was asked why there wasn't as much attention placed on community nurses as there were on those working in acute settings.
He answered that community nurses were high on his agenda and there needed to be an investment in community care. 'General practice needs to be the main focus in the future of the NHS. My party will work to increase the number of out of hospital clinicians by 10,000 going forward.'
He also said that the public would notice the biggest change in community services as we move towards prevention rather than treatment.
'Practice nurses and district nurses are so important in early prevention.'
Mr Hunt was also asked about whether the new models of care that were outlined in the Five Year Forward View would lead to another division of primary care and acute services instead of creating more joint working. The models in question were the multispeciality provider and the primary and acute care services.
'The default of the health secretary is to find one service that works for health service and roll it out across the whole country. However, sometimes the best way of doing things will be different in different areas.
'To ensure that the models run to the same results we will measure them all in the same way and then compare the results. Transformation has to be driven from the bottom up and make sure that it is about delivering the best for the patient and it is not all about tick-boxing,' he said.