There is a District Nursing Team that covers the Caldbeck and Dalston area. We are employed by Cumbria Primary Care Trust and have a base office at Caldbeck and Dalston Surgeries.
The District Nursing service is available 24 hours of the day. To access the service we provide the following contact numbers:
Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm:
Caldbeck Office: 016974 78320
Dalston Office: 01228 71115
Evenings 5.00pm to 10.00pm or Bank Holidays or Weekends:
Tel: 016973 66641
Night Nursing Service 11.00pm to 8.00am:
Tel: 01228 401999
It is appreciated that the evening and the night service be limited to urgent needs that cannot wait until the following day.
Your friendly, enthusiastic District Nursing Team are:
Joyce Wharton is the District Nursing Sister responsible for the overall management of the District Nursing service at Caldbeck Surgery.
Jean Dickinson is the senior community Staff Nurse within the District Nursing team at Caldbeck Surgery.
Jean qualified as Registered Nurse in 1970 and spent the first few years of her career working as a Staff Nurse in a community hospital in a general elderly care ward. After gaining several years of experience within elderly medicine Jean decided on a career in the community.
Jean joined the Caldbeck GP Practice in 1979 as a community Staff Nurse. She has a vast knowledge of the geographical area and has gained invaluable experience in all aspects of community nursing from her continuous employment at Caldbeck Surgery for over 25 years.
Val qualified as a State Enrolled Nurse in Blackpool Victoria Hospital in 1969. After qualifying Val decided to work within Infectious Disease and Dermatology. Val then decided to work within School Nursing where she attended to the nursery and reception age groups of children. Val continued within School Nursing for just over 11 years before returning into the Adult Nursing sector, specialising in Mental Health. Val found working within elderly Mental Health offered great experience in caring for people with challenging behaviour. Val then went on to work for 6 months within a community hospital before deciding on a career within District Nursing. Val has worked as a community nurse for just over 10 years and has been based in different GP surgeries within Wigton & Solway including Kirkbride and Dalston.
Val has been working at the surgery since September 2003.
Anyone can ask for advice from the District Nursing Team or for the District Nurse to visit if they, or someone they care for, has an identifiable nursing need. If that need is urgent the District Nurse will respond on the same day of the request otherwise the District Nurse will arrange an appropriate time to visit. We have an open referral system allowing for patients, carers, families, multidisciplinary team members, statutory and voluntary organisations to make direct contact.
The aim of our District Nursing service is to provide evidence based, effective, quality care which can be accessed over the 24 hour / 7 day period. We work from 9am till 5pm at Caldbeck Surgery and can be contacted direct at approx 9:30am otherwise after 2pm or leave a message via reception or on our answering machine – telephone 016974 78320 (our answering machine is checked regularly throughout the working day). Our answering machine also has the 24-hour telephone contact numbers for all out of hour District Nurse services within Cumbria PCT.
The majority of our District Nursing work takes place in the home setting but we also occasionally provide care within a Treatment Centre / Dressing Clinic / Doctors Surgery / Health Centre / Hostel / Residential Home or a Nursing Home which requires specialist advice.
We regularly work closely with other services. With your permission we may need to refer you to another service provider to ensure your care needs are met. Some examples of other services are listed below.
We aim to provide a service responsive to your needs. If you wish to make any comment about the District Nursing service please contact District Nursing Sister Joyce Wharton at Caldbeck Surgery or Cumbria Primary Care Trust Headquarters. All communication will remain confidential.