The bracing and splinting services is currently offered at the Northern General Site.
All our qualified therapists are registered with the Health Professions Council, ensuring a consistent professional standard of treatment.
Therapists are involved in the multi-disciplinary teams throughout the Trust, contributing to patient treatment plans, facilitating progress throughout their stay, and ensuring adequate follow-up where needed on discharged from hospital.
The Occupational Therapists will assess and apply a custom made, bespoke thermoplastic or delta cast brace that may include upper and lower limb and be in response to referrals from critical care or orthopaedic in-patients and outpatients.
The bracing and splinting team are part of the Burns Plastics and Orthopaedic team of Occupational Therapists.
The aim of the service is to:
Humeral braces
Hinged elbow braces
Lower limb cast braces with and without the foot included
Once the brace has been applied you will be offered follow-up appointments to check that the brace continues to fit well and that there are no issues relating to pressure and skin car.
Patients may be fitted with a brace while they are an in-patient on the ward and will be offered follow-up following discharge. We treat our patients in the fracture clinic department which is situated at the side of A & E in the main Huntsman building on D floor at the Northern General Hospital.
All treatments are completed in individual private cubicles.
We treat:
Following the application of a brace all patients will be provided with a care leaflet. This leaflet will provide you with information about the type of brace that you have been supplied with, and precautions that you should follow, how to look after your limb and brace and also a contact telephone number. These are available to download if you click on the booklet that you would like to read.
Do I need to remove my brace to have an X-Ray?
All our braces can be x-ray through, depending on your level of healing the consultant may ask for the brace to be removed to have an x-ray so that the doctor can perform a clinical examination
I have a brace and I have some concerns, what should I do?
If you are already are under the care of the Occupational Therapy Brace team and you are experiencing problems with your brace please do not hesitate to give us a call on 0114 2715799.
If you are ringing out of hours there is an option to leave a message and a member of the team will return your call on our next working day. However, if you require emergency attention and the department is closed please go to A & E at the Northern General Hospital for advice.
