Older people's medicine

Care is provided on our wards by teams of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals all with experience in looking after older people, many of whom will have both medical issues and rehabilitation needs. Our aim is to provide holistic, person-centred care with a focus on preventing deconditioning during admission and engaging the multi-disciplinary team to facilitate a timely and safe discharge.

We work closely with community services such as hospital at home / virtual frailty wards, community rehabilitation units, community reablement and intermediate care services and adult social care to ensure that the right support is in place when the time comes to leave hospital.

Older people staying in our care.

Frimley Park Hospital has 116 acute beds, distributed across five wards and the frailty same day emergency care unit (SDEC). There are 104 community beds in Farnham Hospital and Heathlands Intermediate Care Unit.

• Frailty SDEC 
• Ward G6 Short Stay Unit
• Ward G2b
• Ward F3
• Ward F14
• Ward F15

Wexham Park Hospital has 148 beds, distributed across six wards and a frailty same day emergency care unit (SDEC).

• Frailty SDEC
• Older people’s unit (wards 7 and 8)
• Acute frailty unit
• Ward 17
• Ward 18
• Ward 20

The integrated frailty liaison teams at Frimley Park and Wexham Park hospitals are multi-disciplinary teams of doctors, in-reach GPs, nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. They provide a specialised service for patients living with frailty who attend hospital.

The teams work in the emergency department and frailty same day emergency care units (SDECs) to assess older people who arrive at the hospital with complications of frailty such as falls, reduced mobility and confusion. 

The teams aim ‘to develop, create and deliver a person-centred pathway, that supports those patients living with frailty to access the highest quality acute care in the right place at the right time, while maximising independence and reducing length of stay in hospital.’
 

Our frailty same day emergency care units are based in the emergency department in Frimley Park and on level 1 of the emergency assessment centre at Wexham Park.

They offer a holistic assessment, investigations and onward referral as needed for patients living with frailty, who are likely to be able to return home on the same day.
 

After being acutely unwell older people may experience a decline in function that persists beyond the acute illness. Whilst they may not have medical needs that mean they should continue to stay in an acute hospital, their need for ongoing therapy input may be such that a short stay in a rehabilitation unit is recommended.

From Frimley Park

Farnham Hospital (for patients living in the Surrey Heath, North East Hampshire and Farnham areas), Heathlands Intermediate Care Unit (for those living in Bracknell Forest).

Wexham Park

Community services provided for patients registered with a GP in the East Berkshire area are provided by Berkshire Healthcare. They offer rehabilitation beds in St Mark’s Hospital in Maidenhead. More information can be found on the Berkshire Healthcare website.

For patients registered with a GP in the South Buckinghamshire area, inpatient rehabilitation beds are based in Amersham Hospital, managed by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

Frimley Health runs the urgent community response and frailty virtual ward / Hospital at Home service for patients living in NE Hampshire, Farnham and Surrey Heath.

This is a consultant led, multi-disciplinary team who can provide acute level care in a patient’s home or nursing home as an alternative to a hospital admission, or to help with earlier discharges where appropriate.

Equivalent services are provided by Berkshire Healthcare for Berkshire patients and Buckinghamshire Healthcare for patients from South Buckinghamshire.

For Frimley Park patients:

Dr Olushola Alonge: Movement disorder clinic including Parkinson’s disease 
Dr Michelle Carr: General geriatric clinic (face-to-face) and ward follow ups
Dr Savithri Gunasekera: General geriatric clinic (face-to-face) and ward follow ups
Dr Sharmistha Gupta: Peri-operative medicine for older people in vascular surgery (face-to-face)
Dr Nisha Sunuwar: Movement disorder clinic including Parkinson’s disease
Dr Udesh Naidoo: General geriatric clinic and ward follow ups

HCRG Care Group provide a falls and frailty clinic at Farnham Hospital
 

For Wexham Park patients:

Dr Shital Shah: General geriatric clinic (face to face) and ward follow ups
Dr Melanie Wright: Frailty assessment for TAVI

Berkshire Healthcare provide outpatient clinics in St Marks and Upton.