Developing the community environmental health role of the nurse

This paper is a report from one phase of an exploratory case study. It investigated the environmental health concerns of members of communities within one city in the North East of Scotland. Individual interviews with stakeholders (n=21) and four focus groups were conducted with a convenience sample of community nurses (n=19). Community nurse participants believed that their environmental health role remains underdeveloped. They indicated that they do not view the NHS as a resource for environmental health information. An environmental role is constrained by the NHS not being perceived as a source of information or expert in environmental health. They described limited contact between community nurses and public health medicine and uncertainty and conflict of interest between clinical groups regarding the scope of an environmental health role. Policy makers could support the development of an environmental advocacy role--a pilot of this is required.