Measuring the economic value of community nursing.

The economic value of community nursing is not well understood, meaning it can be a challenge to make the case for investment in the service. The breadth of the service is so vast that it can be difficult to define all the activity and measure the outcomes achieved, which is essential to assess value. A roundtable, hosted by the Healthcare Financial Management Association, considered the challenge of measuring economic value in community nursing, to identify where further work is needed. Community nursing has a key role to play in the development of integrated care systems, as it demonstrates the integration of services at a patient level. Assessment of value needs to recognise the part that the service should play in an integrated care system. However, investment and cultural change is needed within community nursing to ensure activity data is recorded accurately to enable value to be assessed.