Community matrons improve health: patients' perspectives

Community matrons are integral to the government's plans to reduce hospital bed-use by people with long-term conditions. Community matrons have been given the role of case managing the very high intensity users in an attempt to reduce emergency bed days through preventing admissions and early discharge and through working closely with their patients to develop personalized plans of care and to support and encourage patients to take more control of their condition. To date there has been little research from the patients' perspective into whether community matrons are achieving their aim. This series of two articles reports on an evaluation of a community matron service, which was initiated over two years ago, from the perspective of the patient. This second article reports on the patients' perspective on how the community matron's involvement has improved their health and what patients' perceived to be important about the community matron service. The findings indicate that patients' value the community matrons understanding of their individual experiences of long-term conditions; the clinical skills to address and give patients confidence that their conditions could be managed; and the availability of the community matrons to the patients. These aspects of the community matron's role seemed to help the patients to feel safe and secure, improved their quality of life and ultimately increased the confidence and control they felt over their long-term conditions.