Elderly Medicine
Contact number: Switchboard 01772 716565
Our Elderly Medicine Department specialises in care of elderly patients, with particular focus on falls prevention, osteoporosis, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, stroke medicine, frailty fractures (orthogeriatrics) and general rehabilitation. We also look after patients with more complex conditions including multiple medical conditions, people who need multiple medicines (polypharmacy) and frail people.
The Proactive Elderly Care Team (PECT) screens patients for dementia and delirium and aims to give the best support and treatment to the frailest patients over the age of 75 years .
The department works closely with nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, discharge co-ordinators, and social and primary care service colleagues to ensure joined-up care is provided.
- Fast track information for patients with dementia and their carers
If a patient has a diagnosis of dementia please contact PALS the day before the clinic appointment on 07591 988 962 or email PALS@lthtr.nhs.uk
The patient can be fast tracked through clinic on the day, and additional support made available from our clinic Dementia Champions.
Fast tracking through clinic is also available for the Carers of patients living with dementia so please also contact PALS to arrange this
- Carers of dementia patients - John's Campaign
We are supporting ‘John’s Campaign,’ a national campaign that welcomes the carers of those living with dementia to stay in hospital with them for as long as they wish.The campaign was founded by the family of Dr John Gerrard who was living with Alzheimer’s and was admitted to hospital for infected leg ulcers. During his five week stay in hospital, visits from his family were severely restricted due to an infection outbreak and John’s condition declined.
Denise Morris, Public Health Co-Coordinator at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are really pleased to be supporting this campaign as carers are a really important partner in delivering care. We already work very closely with family and carers to meet the care needs of their relative, but this campaign recognises that sometimes carers may wish to stay longer than visiting times and that this is okay. We have developed new ‘Carers Cards’ and have Dementia Champions on all our adult wards, who can offer support and advice, so if you are a carer of someone who is living with dementia and is admitted to hospital please speak to the Ward Manager for further information.”
Activity Blankets
As part of our on-going commitment to improve the lives of people living with dementia, we have an extensive dementia awareness training programme for all staff; we have also refurbished two of our elderly care wards; improved our signs at both hospital sites; implemented an activity box programme to ensure there are a range of suitable activities for interaction, comfort and distraction including our own activity blankets, (made by our own linen room and volunteers). We have also designed a new patient garden at Chorley hospital as a safe place for socialising and relaxation.All the new facilities have been paid for using a £1million grant that was awarded to us from the Department of Health.
- Consultants
Consultants
Click on a consultant to see more information.
Dementia Action Alliance
