Brampton hospital is steeped in history, and next year will celebrate its centenary.
It opened on September 6 1923 as a memorial for those who gave their lives in the First World War but since then has adapted to changing health care needs now providing a range of health and care services to the local community.
There have been many extensions and renovations to the building to make sure it remains fit for purpose and most recently an extension was built to extend and bring the inpatient unit right up to date.
The hospital’s charity the Brampton League of Friends contributed significantly to the cost of that work. As you go into the hospital, the in-patient unit with 16 beds is through the security doors on your left.
Lesley Little ward manager said: “The ward provides patients with the extra support they need to help them get home. Often we have quite complex discharge needs including social needs that need wide-ranging support from different agencies.
“I do enjoy my work and we have a great camaraderie at Brampton, there is a family atmosphere and people are really supportive of each other.”
As well as the ward, a wide range of other services are also delivered and based from the hospital.
Friendly face
Suzanne Mason is the friendly face that greets you as you come into the hospital most days. She supports all the services that are run from the hospital.
She said: “Most of my work is supporting the ward as ward clerk but I also direct people coming in for appointments, contact the estates teams if there are issues that need fixing in the building, I order supplies for the ward, uniforms and stationery and I support all services with room bookings. All that as well as answering the numerous calls that come into the reception every day.”
Down the corridor on your right the first office we get to is the community midwives’ office. There I meet Frances Bendle, community midwife.
She explained about the team: “We have around 110 patients on our caseload at any one time. We provide antenatal care in a clinic setting at Brampton hospital providing support for mums to be in the Brampton area.
“To get the best outcome for mums, babies and families we work with a range of services including the hospital consultants, paediatricians, perinatal mental health, physiotherapy, social care, health visiting, and other specialist midwives.
Down the corridor a little further is the Integrated Care Community (ICC) hub and ICC administration team. The office is the base for the district nurses and community therapy and rehabilitation teams who provide care directly to people in their own homes. They work very closely together and liaise with lots of different teams and services to ensure that patients get the right care at the right time in the right place.
The work of the teams in the ICC is coordinated through the ICC administration hub. The small team answer around 100 calls a day from a range of NHS professionals, adult social care and the public.
They make sure all the referrals from GPs, hospitals, patients and other services are clear for the various community service leads to then triage.
The ICC Community rehabilitation service consists of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, assistant practitioners and health care practitioners. They provide the therapy needs across the Brampton and Longtown ICC.
This is a huge geographical area covering right up to the Scottish border – Newcastleton and Bewcastle, and the boundary with Northumberland including Gilsland and Midgeholme as well as the towns of Brampton and Longtown.
Joined-up care
The team work closely with the district nursing team to the benefit of the patient to ensure that they receive high-quality joined-up care.
Yvonne Armstrong is a District nurse and she said: “We liaise with other hospitals in relation to patients who are being discharged – this is not just the Cumberland Infirmary though, this week I have been speaking to Lancaster and Kendal hospitals where a patient from our area was being discharged and I even spoke to a hospital in India who was discharging a patient back to our area.
“I feel very privileged to look after people in their own homes, that’s where people want to be. You get to know their families too and you feel part of a team as well as part of the community.”
At Brampton hospital, there is a fully equipped gym for core physiotherapy services and there is also a specialist musculoskeletal service held at the hospital too.
At the end of the corridor, there is an office base for the children’s speech and language therapy team. There we met Helen Phillips who is a children’s speech and language therapist:
She said: “We support children with a wide range of conditions including language impairment speech disorders, selective mutism, and autistic spectrum condition (ASC) and can be involved for several years with some children who may have long-term needs.”
As well as the services already mentioned the following services also run from the hospital:
- Podiatry
- Mental health services
- Persistent pain services
- Diabetic eye screening
- Core physiotherapy
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