Country’s first emergency department for over 80s to open in Norfolk
Members of the NNUH Emeregncy care team and Older People’s Medicine. Photo: NNUH
The county’s busiest hospital is to become the first in the UK to open an emergency department (ED) specifically for the elderly.
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) announced innovative plans to transform the way it delivers emergency care and will open the first A&E dedicated to patients over the age of 80.
From the end of November, when a patient over 80 years old arrives at the NNUH ED, they will go straight to the older people’s ED, where there will be a multi-disciplinary team consisting of ED consultants, consultant geriatricians, and emergency and older people’s medicine nurses waiting to provide care for them.
Currently around 50 patients a day aged 80 or over visit A&E, and the new department will cater for around this number.
New care cafe to support carers looking after people in their own homes
A new “care cafe” is being set up at a nursing home to support carers looking after people in their homes in rural areas.
The cafe will be held at The Depperhaugh Nursing Home in Chickering Road, Hoxne, near Eye, on the first Wednesday of every month, from 10.30am to noon, beginning on November 1.
It is designed to provide carers with an opportunity to meet people in similar situations and share their problems, swap ideas or perhaps simply enjoy a chat over coffee and cakes.
Digitally excluded: The 90,000 Norfolk households not going online
Older people can lack the confidence to go online, according to Norfolk County Council research.
More than 90,000 homes in Norfolk have no or very limited access to the internet, either because of lack of connections, not being able to afford it or not having the confidence to use it.
Research has shown that almost a quarter of the county’s homes are defined as “digitally excluded”.
A similar study in London showed just 15pc of households there were unable or unlikely to use the internet.
The Norfolk County Council research showed homes where people were unlikely, or unable, to use the internet included “significant” numbers of older people, families on low incomes and those living in social housing.
