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District and Community Nursing

Find information resources about District and Community Nursing including key resources, books, and journal articles. This guide is for RCN members including nursing students, nursing support workers, and registered nurses.

Last updated: 10/06/2026

Key Resources

Department of Health and Social Care (2025) Fit for the future: 10 year health plan for England (CM 1350).
Health Innovation Network and NHS England: National Wound Care Strategy Programme
Legs Matter (2025) National Wound Care Strategy Programme (NWCSP) wound care resources.
NHS Wales (no date) Once for Wales: Nursing and Midwifery Education: Post Graduate Community Nursing SCPHN and SPQ Programmes.
Nursing and Midwifery Council: Standards for post registration.
Nursing and Midwifery Council (2022) Standards of proficiency for community nursing specialist practice qualifications.
Two nursing staff looking at a computer Clinical resources on RCN Learn
RCN Library subject guide: Digital nursing.
Strategic Programme for Primary Care (2022) National community nursing specification: overarching principles, characteristics, and functions of community nursing in Wales.
The Queen's Nursing Institute (2021) Standards of education and practice for nurses new to care home nursing. London: QNI.
Department of Health Northern Ireland (2018) A district nursing framework 2018-2026. (no place): DH.
Department of Health Northern Ireland: Community care.
HSC Public Health Agency: Delivering care.
NIPEC (no date) District nursing. 
We would like to thank the RCN District and Community Nursing member community for their input into the development of this subject guide.

Books

Book cover Bradby M (ed.) (2022) District nursing at a glance. Chicester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Book cover Brook J, McGraw C and Thurtle V (eds.) (2021) Oxford handbook of primary care and community nursing. 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Book cover Burrows P, Cowie J, Robotham A and Frost M (2023) Health visiting: specialist community public health nursing. 3rd edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Book cover Carey N, Franklin P, Thomas T and Rees S (2025) Oxford handbook of prescribing for nurses and allied health professionals. 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  
 
Carrier-Managing-long-term-conditions Carrier J (2022) Managing long-term conditions and chronic illness in primary care: a guide to good practice. Taylor and Francis.
Book cover Chilton S and Bain H (2025) A textbook of community nursing. 3rd edn. London: Routledge.
Book cover DeMarco R F and Healey-Walsh J (2024) Community and public health nursing: evidence for practice. 4th edn. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.
Book cover Gould J and Bain H (2022) Principles and practice of nurse prescribing. London: Learning Matters. 
Book cover Gunowa N O and McBride M (2025) A clinician’s survival guide to district nursing. Edinburgh: Elsevier.
Book cover Loschiavo J (2023) Fast facts for the school nurse. 4th ed. New York: Springer Publishing.
Book cover Mitchell A, Ritchie G and Hopkins A (2024) Lower limb and leg ulcer assessment and management. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Book cover Probst S (2021) Wound care nursing: a person-centred approach. 3rd edn. Edinburgh:  Elsevier. 
Book cover Ross F, Harris R G, Fitzpatrick J, Abley C and Redfern S J (2024) Redfern’s nursing older people. 5th edn. (no place): Elsevier.
Scobie-Atlas-of-diabetes Scobie I (2023) Atlas of diabetes mellitus. 4th edn. CRC Press.
Stacey-Leadership-development Stacey G, Westwood G, and Florence Nightingale Foundation (2023) Leadership development for nurses and midwives. (no place): Elsevier. 

Book subject searches

Use these links to see details of books the RCN libraries hold on each topic.

Explore

RCN District and Community Nursing Forum - Driving quality care at home.
  • This sketch animation was created by the RCN District Nursing Steering Group to highlight the work that District Nurses do.
    Watch video

Nursing History Collection

The Nursing history collection generally consists of modern books about the history of nursing which can be borrowed by RCN members.
Book Cover Cohen S (2018) The district nurse: a pictorial history. Barnsley: Pen and Sword History. 
Book cover Jordan P (2012) District nurse: my life as a nurse in the 1950s, London: Orion.
Morrison C (2017) Hebridean heroines: twentieth century Queen's Nurses (1940s-1970s), Laxay, Isle of Lewis: Islands Book Trust.

Special collections

Our Permanent Collection consists of nursing specific core items and rare items. Items are viewable by appointment at the RCN Library and Museum.
Baly M, Robottom B and Clark J (1987) District nursing (2nd edition), London: Heinemann.
Handbook for Queen's Nurses (1924), London: The Scientific Press.
Loane M (1905) Outlines of routine in district nursing, London: The Scientific Press.
Stocks M (1960) A hundred years of district nursing, London: Allen and Unwin.

Archives

The RCN Archive contains some of the most important collections dedicated to the history of the nursing profession in the UK, including the organisational records of the Queen Victoria's Institute of District Nursing Scottish branch which subsequently became the Queens Nursing Institute, Scotland (QNIS). Viewable in Edinburgh by appointment.
The RCN Archive contains over 600 recordings of individuals from across the nursing profession. Search "T/*" in the RefNo search field of the archive catalogue to browse the collection.

QNIS

The Queen's Nursing Institute Heritage website explores the 150 year history of district nursing in the UK.

This subject guide relates to:

District and Community Nursing Forum
RCN library staff

Caroline Lynch

Editor of this guide

RCN Library and Museum

Upcoming events relating to this subject guide

Page last updated - 10/06/2026

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