General Medicine – Leicester Royal Infirmary and General Hospital

General Medicine covers the treatment and management of a range of long term illnesses but also short term acute medical conditions. These can range from poorly controlled diabetes to respiratory conditions or a sudden infection such as pneumonia.

Our General Medical wards are Ward 33, 34, Hampton Suite and 38 at the LRI and Wards 1 and 15 at the LGH. All of our wards are fast paced with a high number of admissions and discharges daily, they care for both male and female adult patients of all ages.

All of our General Medical wards work closely within their Multi- Disciplinary Teams (MDT), this includes; Doctors, Nurses, Therapists, Specialist Discharge Teams and other external agencies such as social services, with the shared goal of keeping the patient and family at the centre of all decision making.

There is opportunity to learn about a variety of complex medical conditions following the patient’s journey from admission to discharge.

Neurology – Leicester Royal Infirmary and General Hospital

Ward 24 at the Leicester Royal Infirmary has 27 beds and cares for patients with a wide variety of Neurological conditions including Guillain- Barre Syndrome, Epilepsy, Motor Neuron Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and a multitude of other neurological conditions including headaches and visual disturbance.

The Brain Injury Unit (BIU) based at the Leicester General Hospital (LGH) has 9 beds and cares for patients who have had a traumatic Brain Injury potentially resulting in acute cognitive impairment. Patients that are nursed on BIU tend to require longer term inpatient stays due to the complexity of their brain injury and the associated long term effects.

BIU was the first ward at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) to achieve and maintain a “Blue Caring at its Best” status on the ward based performance assessment framework (Assessment and Accreditation) which is designed to foster a culture of safety by helping nurses monitor the quality of care being provided in their clinical area.

Stroke Unit

Our Stroke Unit consists of multiple areas across the Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) and the Leicester General Hospital (LGH).

On Ward 25 (LRI) there is an 8 bedded Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU) for patients who have been admitted directly from the Emergency Department following a diagnosis of a Stroke, requiring further Acute monitoring and observation. Once these patients are fully assessed and there is a plan of care in place they are transferred out of HASU onto either Ward 25 or 26 to continue their Stroke care. Once medically stable the patients who have been set rehabilitation goals will be transferred either to a community hospital or Ward 3 LGH dependening on their address (city/county).

Ward 3 at the Leicester General Hospital is the Rehabilitation Unit linked to our Acute Stroke Unit at the LRI. The Ward has 16 beds and takes both male and female patients who have set rehab goals from our dedicated Stroke Therapy team, to help them achieve and adjust to their new baseline prior to being discharged. Each area works closely with their MDT to provide the best outcome for their patients.

On the Stroke Unit there are Specialist Stroke Nurses and Stroke Clinicians, known as the Rapid Access Protocol team (RAP). The RAP team attend the Emergency Department (ED) with an aim to give potentially life-saving “clot busting” treatment to stroke patients within the first few hours of a stroke. There is a RAP nurse available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assess and review Stroke patients throughout the hospital.

The Stroke Unit has a dedicated Stroke Specialist Education nurse to provide training and support to new and existing members of the team, to make sure they are competent with the clinical skills required on a Stroke Unit.

The Medical Day Case Unit (MDCU)

The Medical Day Case Unit (MDCU) is based on two wards (17 and 19) at the Leicester General Hospital. It is a Nurse led service that specialises in delivering high cost therapy treatments to patients with chronic health conditions such as Chrohns disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis and some neurological conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis. The service also provides a blood to service for patients referred by GPs or clinics; also cytotoxic medications and Joint injection clinics, epidural clinics, lumbar puncture (diagnostic and treatment) and Botox treatments for Dystonia are all delivered in the MDCU.

The MDCU is predominantly a Monday to Friday service with occasional clinics at the weekend to meet increased service demand.

Multidisciplinary Led Care

Ward 22 at the Leicester General Hospital is a new ward which opened in September 2022 to help with winter pressure within Specialist Medicine. It is a 16 bedded nightingale ward which accommodates both male and female adult patients. There is a set criteria for referral to Ward 22 which seeks to optimise a patients’ chance of living a more independent life, there is a strong ethos of MDT working to ensure a safe and timely discharge following a short period of rehabilitation.