Case management and long-term conditions: the evolution of community matrons.

It is now 10 years since the NHS Improvement Plan described a new clinical role for nurses and introduced the concept of community matrons for long-term conditions. This included conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, dementia, neurological conditions, heart failure, stroke and people with long and enduring mental illness. Despite initial concerns and scepticism about the role, community matrons continue to work with people to provide advanced clinical nursing care, often within a case-management model. Community matrons have continued to shape and develop this role around the main aims of preventing unnecessary emergency admissions, improving quality of life and outcomes for patients, and coordinating all elements of care. This article reviews the evidence, implementation and evolvement of case management within the role of the community matron.