Older People's Medicine (Physio)

Who we are

The Older People's Medicine (formerly Medicine for the Elderly) team provides a wide range of services to patients on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.

The team works across a number of wards, with the majority of our staff based on the acute medical assessment units, short stay and acute rehabilitation wards.
We also work in the accident and emergency department as part of the Early Intervention Team aimed at avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital.

On average the team provides physiotherapy assessments and tailored treatments to 550 patients per month. Patients we usually see have presented with a fall, infections or a general deterioration in their health leading to an inability to manage at home.

Inpatients

Physiotherapy interventions usually consist of a comprehensive assessment of health, mobility and social situation.

• Your treatment will be personalized as many patients have underlying health problems, such as arthritis, chronic respiratory illness, and neurological impairments that need to be taken into account.
• Typical interventions include the provision of suitable walking aids, tailored rehabilitation plans focusing on strength and balance, education on reducing the risk of falls, health promotion in later life and participation in ward based exercise classes.
• When you are a patient or your family member is a patient, it is really helpful for the appropriate footwear to be brought in and where possible your usual walking aid.
• Our aim is to enable patients to return home and be as independent as possible for as long as feasible. We achieve this by working closely with our medical, nursing, occupational therapy and social work colleagues within the hospital , and where required, we have links to colleagues in the community to arrange any ongoing therapy needs in your own home.
• Unfortunately when this is not possible we are also involved in the decisions about eligibility for continuing care funding or requirements for Residential/Nursing home placements.

Outpatient Appointments

We also provide physiotherapy input when required to patients attending the falls and movement disorder outpatient clinics.

• A typical appointment with the physiotherapist lasts 45mins – 1hr to allow for an assessment and tailored treatment program to be provided. 
• It is really useful if you bring your normal footwear and walking aid with you.