St George’s Hospital Directory of Services
The Integrated Falls and Bone Health Service from St.George’s Healthcare NHS Trust is for the older population who are at risk of falls, have had falls or are worried about falling or have a diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis.
Bone Boost provides balance and strength training exercise classes which run for eight weeks. They aim to reduce the risk of falling, and offer information and guidance about what to do in the event of a fall.
They accept both GP and self referrals.
The NHS Constitution gives people living in England the right to choose where to receive treatment. In most cases, you have the legal right to choose the hospital or service you’d like to go to. This will include many private hospitals, as long as they provide services to the NHS. This means you can choose the organisation that provides your NHS care when you’re referred for your first appointment with a Consultant. If your GP recommends that you see a specialist, you can choose where and when to see them.
If you’re unsure about which hospital or clinic to choose, your GP can advise you on what might be the best choice for you. The “Find and Choose Hospitals” web page is the most sophisticated hospital comparison system in the UK. It allows you to compare hospitals using a wide range of factors, including:
- overall quality of service (judged by the regulator)
- other patients views
- waiting times
W: nhs.uk
Feeling unwell? Not sure where to go to get the help you need? Health Help Now will help you find the right treatment. Health Help Now aims to help people find the right service in the Richmond area for their health needs, especially when they need medical help fast but it is not a life-threatening emergency.
Forty per cent of visits to Accident and Emergency departments (A&E) do not result in any treatment. That does not mean those people are all in the wrong place. It is important for some conditions to be checked in A&E even if no treatment is needed. But national statistics suggest that a large proportion of those visits to A&Es could have been dealt with better by a different NHS service – such as pharmacists, GPs, or minor injuries nurses.
Health Help Now has been developed with input from local GPs, hospital doctors, and other health professionals. It lists common symptoms and offers suggestions for treatment. The one which works best for most people is listed first and the other suggestions follow in order. Health Help Now then links through to local services, and shows whether they are open or closed and their location.
By using Health Help Now you are helping the NHS save A&E for those who really need it.
If you are having difficulty living at home, or think you will find it difficult when you return home to manage every day tasks, such as washing, dressing and cooking, then you may need a home care needs assessment.
Social Services have a legal duty to assess anyone who appears to be in need of support services. This is regardless of the person’s income and savings, or whether the council thinks they will qualify for support. The needs assessment should not cover any financial matters, except to make sure that you are receiving the state benefits you are entitled to.
You should contact your local council Social Services department and ask for a “Needs Assessment” or a “Care Needs Assessment”.
Useful contacts:
gov.uk/apply-needs-assessment-social-services
Age UK “Fact Sheet 41”
Disability Rights UK
W: nhs.uk
If you are aged 18 or over, with complex, intense and unpredictable healthcare needs, you could qualify for NHS continuing healthcare. NHS clinical commissioning groups, known as CCGs must assess you for NHS continuing healthcare if it seems that you may require it.
Where it is determined that the primary reason for you requiring care is health-based rather than social care needs based, you will be entitled to an ongoing fully-funded package of healthcare. This can be directly arranged by the NHS or you could receive it in the form of a Personal Health Budget, similar to the personal budget for social care.
Although this may sound like a complicated process, there is plenty of help available to help you via the following organisations, many of which are listed in this guide.
- Disability Rights UK
- People Hub
- Citizens Advice UK
- Your GP
- Age UK
- Independent Age
W: nhs.uk
Physiotherapy is often a part of your recovery as it is helpful to people with a wide variety of physical and neurological health problems. It is available on the NHS and also widely available privately. Your hospital or GP may refer you for NHS physiotherapy, but you can refer yourself to a physiotherapist privately if you are able to pay for it.
Useful contacts:
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). This is the governing body of physiotherapists in the UK and via their website you can locate a physiotherapist for private treatment and find out more about how physiotherapy could help you.
W: csp.org.uk
Many trauma patients can after discharge from hospital, suffer from mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, or stress. This is common but there a number of different services to help you within the NHS. One of the most effective treatments is called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or “CBT” which is proven to help with many common health issues. There are various ways of accessing CBT from telephone services, internet based systems and face to face. Your GP should be able to help you choose which is best for you.
IAPT – Improving Access to Psychological Therapy – this service is NHS funded designed to treat common mental health problems that your GP can refer you to.
Telephone or online CBT – Many NHS Trusts have set up online / internet based treatment services such as the IESO service shown in this guide.
You can locate talking therapy and CBT treatment services via the NHS Choices website.
Unfortunately there can sometimes be delays in accessing CBT treatment via the NHS and so some people choose to pay for CBT treatment. If you decide to do this, you can find an appropriately qualified therapist via the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists (BABCP) website: cbtregisteruk.com.
W: nhs.uk