Wye Valley NHS Trust

Hereford County Hospital The department of Geriatric Medicine at Hereford County Hospital provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for older people across inpatient, outpatient, and community settings. Our services focus on holistic assessment, rehabilitation, and supporting patients to live well and independently.  Our services  Inpatient Care We provide inpatient care across the following wards. Each ward is supported by a dedicated multidisciplinary team, with daily collaborative working to ensure high-quality, patient-centred care.  Ashgrove Ward Garway Ward Dinmore Ward Orthogeriatric medicine Patients admitted with femoral fractures are cared for directly by the Geriatric Medicine team on Dinmore Ward. Care is delivered jointly with the Trauma…

COVID-19 Osteoporasis information for public   What is Osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is the term used to describe bones when they become ‘porous’, when the struts which make up the mesh-like structure within bone start to disappear. This leads to a reduction in bone strength and an increased risk of fracture after injuries such as a low impact fall. These broken bones or ‘fragility fractures’ can occur in different parts of the body, although the wrist, hip and spine are most commonly affected. Osteoporosis is thought to affect 1 in 3 women and 1 in 7 men during their lifetime. It is…

Emergency Department - waiting times Waiting times for our Emergency Department (ED) are available on our ED website page. Referral to treatment - waiting times We have put a number of measures in place to reduce waiting times for patients following the pandemic and the sustained pressure on NHS services.  We have provided additional capacity within the organisation, including extra procedure lists, additional clinics including at weekends, where possible, to reduce these waiting times. We also work with the independent sector and neighbouring NHS Trusts to increase the availability for patients to have procedures undertaken as quickly as possible. We…

What is it? Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a supervised programme of exercise and education, designed for the treatment of people with a long-term lung condition who are troubled by breathlessness.  Who is it for? If you have any of the following conditions you may benefit from Pulmonary Rehabilitation: • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) • Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) • Bronchiectasis Who and where we are we? The Pulmonary Rehabilitation services within Wye Valley NHS trust is run by the Physiotherapy team who deliver the Pulmonary Rehab programme to patients throughout Herefordshire.  It is currently based off site at Hinton…

The human resources and organisational development directorate incorporates the following teams/departments: Recruitment The recruitment team provides a central recruitment service, processing all advertisements, applications and contracts of employment for the Trust and managing the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checking service. The team is based at Franklin Barnes Building in Hereford. Medical Recruitment The medical recruitment team provides a central recruitment service for all medical staffing appointments, which includes pre-employment checks for all medical and dental staff groups. The team is based at Franklin Barnes Building in Hereford. Temporary staffing The temporary staffing team provide a centralised service to the…

If you have previously given birth by caesarean section your care will differ slightly. You will continue seeing your midwife in the community setting, but will also be invited for a consultant appointment at 14 to 16 weeks and then again at 34 to 36 weeks.  A full discussion about your previous birth and current pregnancy will take place and the options for birth this time around.  Your consultant should go through the risks and benefits of both a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) and an EL LSCS (elective caesarean section).  If you decide to opt for an EL LSCS…

  For most pain conditions, pain medication is a choice for symptom relief rather than a necessity to stop a disease process. Any treatment with medicines results in a balance of benefits and harms; if the medicine doesn’t relieve the symptoms then the result of taking the medicine is harm only. Medication can be helpful in acute or short-term pain, and may be used in persistent pain but the latest research shows us that pain medications can become less effective over time and also cause unpleasant side-effects, even increasing sensitivity to pain. That is why it is important to incorporate…

Welcome to our paediatric outpatient department and Children's Ward.  The Paediatric department (Children's ward) provides inpatient and outpatient treatment of medical and surgical conditions, in children from birth up to the seventeenth birthday. The Children's ward deals with medical conditions and also provides facilities for many surgical specialties. The majority of children needing surgery can be treated in Hereford.  However, surgery in young children (generally under two years of age) and specialist surgery is referred to a specialist Children’s hospital, usually Birmingham. Both the medical and surgical specialties at The County Hospital have good links with Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Several…

Coronavirus Public Health England advice Coronavirus advice  To protect our patients, visitors and staff we have implemented a zero tolerance approach to Health Care Associated Infections. Our key role is to monitor healthcare associated infection, we educate our staff, and raise awareness of infection control with our patients, visitors and the public, ensure policies are up to date and based on the best evidence; we undertake audits; and manage outbreaks. The team consists of a consultant microbiologist, a lead infection prevention nurse and four infection prevention nurses. The team is represented at the Trust Board by the Director of Nursing.…

Temporary suspension of home birth service: Frequently asked questions 1.      Why has the home birth service been temporarily suspended? The Trust has temporarily paused the service following a national request for all NHS Trusts to assess the sustainability and safety of their home birth provision. Although no recent safety concerns about the Trust’s home birth service have been noted, in light of the national directive, we have reviewed the service and have identified areas in which we need to improve to ensure that we have a safe and sustainable service. In response to the national and local increase in the…