Geriatric Medicine Maidstone Prospectus

The Department of Medicine for the Elderly in Maidstone is delighted to accommodate specialist trainees, who are an important and valued part of our unit. We pride ourselves on being a friendly and cohesive team.

Our department is the largest within the Maidstone Medical Unit in terms of numbers of both inpatients and doctors. We provide in-patient services for: acute elderly care; the whole inpatient stroke care pathway, including 24 hour thrombolysis; orthogeriatric rehabilitation; and elderly frailty. We undertake out-patient clinics at Maidstone Hospital in general/geriatric medicine, stroke & TIA and movement disorders. We have a local falls service, run by the Kent Community Health Trust.

We have a 26 bed acute elderly care ward, a 33 bed ward combining acute elderly care with orthogeriatric rehabilitation, a 26 bed acute and rehabilitation stroke unit and a 12 bed embryonic frailty unit.

The medical take is provided on an integrated basis for adults of all ages. From Monday morning to 2pm on Friday the take is overseen by five consultant physicians with a commitment to acute medicine. 15 consultant physicians (including the substantive care of the elderly consultants) participate in the weekend take rota and are on call overnight. Most medical patients are admitted initially to our Urgent Medical & Ambulatory Unit (UMAU). If necessary they are then transferred to one of the medical or elderly care wards, where their care is taken over by the resident team. Stroke patients are admitted directly to the Stroke Unit and are automatically taken over by the stroke consultants.

The department has strong links with the local palliative care service and the old age psychiatry service, allowing specialist trainees to spend time with these teams. We are more than happy to accommodate any special requirements or interests our trainees may have, whenever we can.

We seek to be as supportive of our trainees’ educational progress as we possibly can be. The progress of all trainees is discussed at Local Faculty Group meetings. Trainees are encouraged to attend regional training days and many other training opportunities, both within and outside the hospital.

Training Programme

Out-patient Services: Each consultant runs a general out-patient clinic. There are also specialist clinics for TIA and Parkinson’s disease. There will be adequate opportunities for trainees to gain both new and follow-up patient experience. There is also the opportunity for trainees to attend the local Falls Clinic and the tilt table service.

Acute in-patient services: The registrar posts are on-call for acute medicine. They benefit from a balance of acute elderly care and acute GIM experience, with exposure to CCU and ITU training opportunities.

Orthogeriatric service: The department provides orthogeriatric rehabilitation for patients with fractured neck of femur, working closely with the Department of Orthopaedics. The Trust’s trauma service is based at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital; suitable patients are transferred to Maidstone for rehabilitation.

Stroke Service: There is a 26 bedded combined acute and rehabilitation Stroke Unit. There is a daily TIA clinic. Maidstone Hospital is part of the West Kent stroke thrombolysis network, providing opportunities for registrars to gain experience of stroke thrombolysis.

Falls Service: The falls service is provided by the Community Trust.

Old Age Psychiatry and End of Life Care: There are well established links with the local departments of old age psychiatry and palliative care/hospice, and arrangements can be made for trainees to gain experience in these areas.

Intermediate Care Services: There is a well-established therapy led day hospital at Coxheath, which is the base for the community rehabilitation and enhanced rapid response teams run by the Kent Community Health Trust.

There are two specialist registrar posts in Geriatric Medicine and GIM in Maidstone. Both trainees are in KSS rotations. Both are able to gain experience in all areas offered by the department over the course of a year.