UCNS Urgent Care Nursing Service - Western locality

Key Messages

The Urgent Care Nursing Service provides a high-quality nursing service to adult patients in the areas of Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon, who are temporarily or permanently housebound within their own home or a care setting without nursing provisions.

The service provides a community based intravenous nursing service providing care within the Plymouth boundaries in order to prevent acute hospital admissions and expedite discharges from hospital-based care.

The Urgent Care Nursing Service is a Community Nursing Team made up of Registered and Unregistered staff to provide the following services to patients over 18 years registered with a GP within the Western locality of NHS Devon CCG:

24-hour community nursing care
08:00-20:30 Intravenous (IV) therapies admission avoidance
17:00-08:30 Out of Hours Nursing Service in Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon

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ED or 999 should continue to be used for life threatening injuries and illnesses.

If your patient does not meet the criteria outlined above for eligibility for the UCNS, please refer to other urgent care services available

All referrals made to the service will require:

Name and Date of Birth
Demographic details including telephone contact details
NHS Number
Registered GP details
Clinical presentation /reason for referral
Any relevant associated risks
Any further details in relation to property location within rural areas including accuracy of satellite navigation device route if applicable
A valid prescription chart if the administration of medication is required.

For Out of Hours Service:

Referrals between 16:30 - 17:00 via Professional line 01752 434427
After 17:00 all referrals should be made via Devon Doctors professional line on 01392 822342
Patient/carer referrals via Devon Doctors patient line on 0845 2419130

All referrals will be assessed and triaged for priority in line with the referral criteria.

For Intravenous Therapies Service:

Please include within your referral the following details:

Diagnosis
Medication dosage and treatment length
Previous treatments
Allergy status
Microbiology input (if appropriate)
TEP Status

Professional referrals between 0900 – 1900 via Professional Referral Line 01752 435567 (if not answered, voicemail facilities are available for a call back, or if an urgent response if required call Professional Mobile Line 07795 505578)

Referrals will not be accepted via email

All referrals will be assessed and triaged for priority in line with the referral criteria.