A community nurse-led project to tackle health inequalities

The Government has emphasized the importance of reducing inequalities in health and health care by giving those working with deprived communities the opportunity to develop new initiatives to address inequalities. Community nurses, although laying claim to the wider public and community health agenda, have yet to clarify the nature of their contribution in reducing inequalities and demonstrate it in practice. This article reports on an evaluation of a community-based nursing initiative in a deprived inner-city community. The findings suggest that community nurses can play an important role in supporting people to access health care more effectively. In addition, by contextualizing health messages and initiatives to reflect the local culture, community nurse can make it easier for people to participate in health-enhancing activities. It is also suggested that some of the theoretical models developed to guide practice in addressing community health issues like inequalities need to be more rigorously tested and evaluated in practice.