Who we are
We are an Urgent Response Community Nursing Service operating overnight in Norfolk and Waveney, from 8pm to 8am. Our aim is to prevent admissions to acute settings by delivering urgent nursing care in the community.
Our service
The out-of-hours community nursing team provides urgent nursing interventions overnight to help patients stay at home and avoid hospital admission. We offer:
- acute and initial catheter care
- palliative symptom control and support
- acute wound care
- urgent diabetes support
- bowel and drain care
- urgent injection administration
We also support patients, GPs, social services (including Swift Response and Night Owls), and the ambulance service overnight.
Who we care for
We care for patients aged 18 and over who are located in Norfolk and Waveney and are known to Norfolk Community Health and Care. We also accept new referrals from:
- out-of-hours GPs
- 999 services
- social services
- acute trusts
- patients visiting the area
If you're already known to the Trust, you can contact the team directly overnight via our call handlers at CallEast. They'll take your details and pass them to our dedicated out-of-hours coordination team for triage. A senior coordinator will then contact you to assess your health concern and determine if an urgent response is needed.
A team of qualified nurses and healthcare assistants (HCAs) with drivers are on duty across the county overnight and will be dispatched as soon as possible. Response times depend on capacity and triage, but we aim to reach patients with the most urgent needs within 2 hours.
Referrals can also be made via NHS 111.
Where are we?
The out-of-hours coordination team is based at Norwich Community Hospital, and we work in partnership with East Coast Community Healthcare to deliver care in Great Yarmouth and Waveney.
We cover all areas of Norfolk and Waveney, with around eight teams working each night, supported by the coordination team in Norwich. Teams are dispatched based on location to ensure the fastest possible response.
Contact us
- Phone (8pm-8am): 01603 481234 or call 111
- Outside of these hours: contact the Single Point of Contact on 01603 518444
Help with health costs
If you're referred to hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostic tests by a doctor, dentist or another primary care health professional, you may be able to claim a refund of reasonable travel costs under the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS). Find out more about the HTCS.