Fighting TB from Sheffield

Published: 10 July 2012

RCN Sheffield member and specialist nurse Kelvin Karim is working hard to highlight the importance of the role of nursing in the care and prevention of tuberculosis. In one of two recently published articles he highlights the fact that as London prepares for an influx of visitors this summer, the city has the highest TB infection rate of any capital city in Western Europe and expresses his hope that this will help to shine a light on the need for more provision of services around TB.
The British Journal of Nursing has published his work as part of a series leading up to the Olympics, and in it he compares and contrasts services that deal with TB now and when the Olympics last came to Britain in 1948. Then, as now, specialist nursing had a massive role to play in the delivery of services and Kelvin hopes that nursing can influence the new commissioning agenda as the NHS moves forwards to a revised structure.
The role of community-based care is the focus of the article for Nursing in Practice. In this, Kelvin argues that due to the complex and long-term nature of treatment of the disease it is inevitable that most care will take place in a non-clinical setting, and he once again stresses the importance of trained nurses in delivering this care.