Community nursing and the digital technology revolution: the past, present and future

While considered still very much in its infancy in terms of becoming an established tool, the push in favour of the use of digital technology in the UK's healthcare system is steadily advancing. This is despite the persistent barriers to, and challenges encountered in its uptake and implementation. The mobile nature of a community nurse's daily practice should theoretically facilitate the rapid and seamless uptake of technology to enable high-quality patient care in a profession that is short on time and staff, and managing an ever-increasing caseload. However, there are indications that technology may not be the panacea it was originally proclaimed to be, but can instead present its own series of obstacles.

The technology revolution is not necessarily new. Initiatives like the shift from a paper-based model to a digital e-community service model were implemented in 2019 in the Whittington Health NHS Trust District Nurse (DN) Service (Basi, 2019). The service received around 200 new referrals per day; an investigation identified unwarranted variation in the standardised delivery of high-quality care, including a disparity in waiting times and continuity of care, missed DN appointments and complaints from patients (Basi, 2019). To address this, a bespoke e-community technology solution incorporating the following elements was created and implemented: