An assessment of dual-role primary care nurses in the inner city

The integration of primary care nursing roles into single posts, closely associated with GPs, has been advocated in the UK and in Europe. However, there has been little exploration of the benefits and difficulties of integrating roles in the UK. In this article, we assess three posts in inner London that combine health visiting and district nursing. Our findings indicate potential benefits in collaborative working with small general practices, as well as high job satisfaction in post-holders. However, these benefits, when weighed against consequences such as increased stress for the post-holders in managing two separate caseloads and increased coasts for the nursing services, would need to be assessed in a larger-scale study. Our study suggests that other combinations of current, defined specialties in community nursing might capitalize on the benefits and diminish the negative consequences.