About The Service
The Falls and Syncope Service is a multi-disciplinary team who provide a service to residents of Gateshead and for people who are registered with a Gateshead GP. The service also accepts referrals for patients outside of Gateshead, via Choose and Book.
The service provides specialist assessment, advice and treatment to patients in clinic or in their own home environment to identify and minimise falls risk, so people can live as independently as possible in their place of residence.
Adults aged 18 years and over can be referred to the service (16 years and above for the medical syncope clinic).
Referrals can be made to the service by health and social care professionals. The service operates Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm.
Clinics are held in the Out-patient Department at the Windy Nook entrance to the hospital. Clinic times may vary.
Who Is In The Team?
Multi-disciplinary working is an essential component for the success of this team. The team consists of Consultant Physicians, Nurses, Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist and Technical Instructors. This innovative staffing model reflects the complex needs of the patients who use this service.
Nurses: Provide a specialist assessment in either a hospital based clinic or in the patient’s home. This may include assessment of blood pressure and ECG (heart tracing) with ongoing management to minimise the risk of further falls and/or the management of dizziness and light-headedness.
Occupational Therapist (OT): Provides specialist assessment to identify problems related to difficulty with activities of daily living (ADL) and confidence or anxiety following a fall or falls. Following assessment, the therapist will work with the patient to develop a treatment programme. The OT can order equipment to maximise the patient’s level of independence and can also liaise with the OT service in Gateshead Council for specialist equipment or adaptations which may be required.
Physiotherapist: Provides specialist assessment to identify problems related to difficulty with walking, vestibular dysfunction, strength and balance. Following assessment, they deliver individual or group exercise programmes to improve and maintain balance and order assistive devices to maximise the patient’s level of independence.
Technical Instructor: Provides support to the Specialist Team across three disciplines (nursing, OT and physio), carrying out exercise programmes, providing equipment and confidence building strategies. They also carry out investigations using portable blood pressure (BP) and electrocardiogram (ECG) machines and also take blood samples.
Consultant Physicians: The medical team, comprising of two consultant physicians and a specialist doctor, provide a hospital clinic service. They conduct specialist examinations and investigations to establish any underlying medical causes for falls and syncope (fainting/passing out).
What You Can Expect From This Service?
Referrals made to the service are triaged according to the patient’s needs to ensure that they are seen by the right person at the right time.
Every patient is given a specialist and comprehensive falls assessment which may take place either in their own home or in the out-patient clinic setting. Following this assessment, patients are then discussed in the falls and syncope multi-disciplinary team weekly meeting where a treatment plan is then agreed upon. A treatment plan can include the involvement of one or more disciplines of the specialist team. This may include:
- Individual or group exercise programme to improve and maintain balance
- Provision of assistive devices to maximise independence
- Ongoing rehabilitation in the community
- Interventions to reduce fear of falling or management of anxiety
- Tilt-table testing and specialist examination to establish and medical cause for the falls/syncope. Tilt table testing is a bed which moves very slowly up and forwards until you are in an upright position. You will stand like this for a period of time while your blood pressure and heart rate is monitored. You will have a specialist blood pressure monitor on your finger and your arm. You will feel the cuff inflating and deflating during the test. You will also have leads attached to your chest to monitor the activity of your heart throughout the test
- Medical investigations which may include 24 hour blood pressure monitoring, 24hour ambulatory ECG monitoring
- Investigations into dizziness.
- Falls risk medication review
- Fracture risk assessment
Contact Details
Telephone: 0191 4453843
Email: [email protected]