For those in peril on the sea… 

How a parish nursing service in the north east has adapted to meet the health needs of local fishermen

Back in the mid-2000s, a member of a church on the north east coast of England attended the Parish Nurse training week in Birmingham. They subsequently established a parish nursing service from the church, serving the community, assisted by other members of the congregation. This service ran for many years and had a huge impact on the local community.

Several years after this service was set up, Jackie Lincoln, a registered nurse from a nearby church, who had trained as a parish nurse in 2016, partnered with them and with their various specialty nursing experiences, a comprehensive whole-person health and wellbeing service was provided. Like other similar initiatives, it receives regular visits and professional support from Parish Nursing Ministries UK.

The two services have always worked closely together. Between them, from April 2021 to March 2022 they had 736 consultations, and the following year this rose to 834. Interestingly, from a missional perspective, 44 per cent of these were with people who were not regular churchgoers.

The most frequent interventions were: action to prevent loneliness and isolation; health support to manage a long term or terminal health condition; mental health support; and spiritual care.

The two services recently amalgamated to form a charity covering both communities, governed by representatives from different churches around the area. Parish Nursing is a very adaptable, flexible service which endeavours to respond to the needs of the community.

Being on the coast, fishing is one of the significant local industries, and in January 2023, the leader of the local Fisherman’s Mission got in touch with Jackie. He was looking for some health input for fishermen, particularly those who had retired. 

He is based in a building overlooking the quay; downstairs there is a fishermen’s mess where people can have a rest, get some food and have a shower.

Upstairs is a spare room, and he had been praying about what he should do with it.  He wanted blood pressure checks along with health advice for his retired fishermen, but he also expected some interest from the current fishing community.

At the same time Jackie was asking God what more He might want her to do. She didn’t know anything about fishing but went to have a look around, and they began to make plans. She asked what the main health issues were with fishermen as she had never worked with them before. The Mission leader said they often had chest issues as they used to smoke and drink in enclosed small spaces.  He also said they never cleaned their teeth so there was a lot of dental decay. 

A plan to start a Parish Nursing health event was finalised. The Mission said they would do all the publicity; they invited the mayor and the local MP, and it was launched on 14 February 2023. Jackie took a team of four trained helpers including a smoking cessation nurse advisor. There were a couple of fishermen in that day.

One was a working skipper, and he asked the team if they could help him with his mental health. Jackie took him out onto the balcony to allow for privacy while the visitors to the mission looked around. He told her he was not going out to sea at the minute because he was scared what he might do. He said he used to have medication but had run out a long time ago.
(Like many others Jackie sees, patients have not been back to their GP for reviews and repeat prescriptions since Covid.)

She asked if he was happy for her to call his GP and ask for an appointment for him and so, with permission, Jackie contacted the surgery and asked for him to be seen that day. The receptionist said she would get the duty doctor to call him. Jackie arranged for him to borrow a phone, since he didn’t have one of his own and a face-to-face appointment was made that day. The fisherman found her just before he left and said to her, 'If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know what would have happened.'

Meanwhile about eight people had come to have their blood pressures done and four of those were referred to their GP for high blood pressure. One of them was a fisherman from Ireland. He was diabetic and his blood pressure was above target. He said he couldn’t get to see the GP while in port. He was given a blood pressure record card with his details and his blood pressure reading to show to the receptionist in order to book an appointment.
 

“If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know what would have happened.” (North east fisherman)

A second session was held in April 2023 and the fisherman with mental health problems returned, saying that he now felt very well and was back out at sea. Among the attendees was a retired fisherman who was holding his wife’s hand. He was her carer as she had dementia. Jackie gave her card to him as she could see he was really struggling with the responsibility.

'The fishermen are just the most lovely people ever,' Jackie (pictured) said. 'They are very proud and admit to being ‘very stubborn’. 

'But allowing time and patience for them means they open up and feel secure when divulging personal information.'

After many years of nursing experience and working as a parish nurse she added, 'It’s important that the people we see feel comfortable and know that we are available for them. As we listen, we’re using our nursing observational skills.' 

And as part of this whole-person health perspective, Jackie also offers her clients spiritual care. 'Faith is not always the first thing a person wants to talk about”, she explained.  

'But you have to trust your instinct and pray that God will prompt you in an appropriate way when the client expresses a need for prayer or for spiritual support.'

The Fishermen’s Mission clinic now runs on the third Tuesday of every other month.
 

[1] Figures taken from their annual statistics as submitted to PNMUK.

(The names of the churches involved have been withheld to preserve the anonymity of the fishermen)