#181 The changing role of community nurses in end-of-life care with Dr Ben Bowers

How is the community nurse role evolving in relation to palliative and end of life care? Many will have anecdotal evidence and experience, but this is something Dr Ben Bowers and team at the University of Cambridge wanted to explore more. In this illuminating conversation with Ben, find out what their research reveals, how the community role is extending and find out about the impact on practice. We talk too about demand exceeding capacity,  and how often end of life care visits are deferred. 

This feels like a timely conversation, recognising the incredible value of the community workforce, and the need for investment and sustainability.

This episode has been kindly supported by the Living Well Dying Well Trust. The creation, development and content of the episode remains the responsibility of Clare Fuller.

Key messages

• Community and district nurses are taking on a substantial role in end-of-life care.

• Workload pressures mean some end-of-life care visits are deferred.

• Nurses’ roles in Advance Care Planning and symptom management have expanded.

• Time, continuity, mentoring and senior clinical support are essential to good care.

• Training matters, but it cannot make up for insufficient staffing and capacity.

• The episode calls for investment in district nursing, specialist palliative care and GP support.

Resource

Access the papers discussed by Ben at:

• Identifying community nurses’ contributions to end-of-life care: an online survey study (pre-print)

• We've taken on a more advanced clinical role’: a multimethod study of community nurses' extended roles in palliative care

• How changes in GPs’ ways of working have affected community nurses: a qualitative study

• Access the  repository of information about Enhancing Anticipatory Prescribing in End of Life Care 

• Participate in research to help  understand the role of independent nurse prescribers in end-of-life symptom management. (Open until the end of November 2026:  Independent nurse prescribers’ contributions to end-of-life prescribing   Participant Information Sheet and Consent Form

Bio

Ben is an internationally recognised clinical academic community nurse. He is an Assistant Professor of Primary Care at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care. Ben leads a programme of interdisciplinary research focused on improving care for patients dying at home. His recent research uses systems approaches to improve community-based end-of-life care and strengthen understanding of the community nursing and general practice workforces, informing service development and policy. In 2023, he was recognised as one of the 75 nurses and midwives whose work has had a particularly significant impact on the NHS since its creation. He is a Fellow of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing and received the RCGP and Society for Academic Primary Care Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award 2024 for his exceptional contributions to primary care research.