Bracing Service – Occupational Therapy

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:

  • Provide a good quality service
  • To fabricate bespoke functional braces in a timely manner, these could be:
    • 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.

The Treatment Rooms

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.

What type of conditions do we treat?

We treat:

  • Mid shaft humeral fractures
  • Distal humeral fractures
  • Tibial plateau fractures
  • Distal femur fractures
  • Patella fractures
  • Quadriceps tendon repair
  • Knee ligament injuries

This is not an exhaustive list.

Leaflets and Further Information

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.

Frequently asked questions

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.

 

Additional Information

How do I arrange an appointment?

Patients are referred to our service either as an inpatient or as an outpatient. The referral will be made by the consultant that your current care is being directed by.

To make a bracing clinic appointment please ring 0114 2714599

The department is open Monday to Friday 7:30 am until 5:00 pm, we run brace clinics on 4 days a week and are able to offer morning or afternoon appointments dependent on the day.

If you require hospital transport to support your travel, to the outpatient appointment please inform a member of the administration staff when you book your appointment this is subject to meeting the trusts transport criteria.

If you are a Health Professional and need advice regarding a care plan for a particular patient or provision of a brace please do not hesitate to contact the team on 0114 2715799, or Internal Bleep 2309

 

 

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