Our Team

Dr. Róisín Purcell is the Consultant Geriatrician over CRU supported by her Medical Officers.

Our medical doctor will welcome and admit you to the unit. The medical doctor will clinically assess your care needs while you are in CRU, providing valuable input into your care plan and discharge back to your community. A multidisciplinary discharge summary of your care in CRU will be sent to you GP on discharge from the unit.

Our team includes nurses, clinical nurse specialists and health care assistants, with a special interest and expertise in caring for older people. 

The nursing team will provide direct patient care and support to you and your family and/or carers.  The team’s aim is to help you with the management of any pain and/or any other symptoms that reduce or impair function.

Clinical pharmacists with a special expertise in our treatments visit CRU patients to review prescriptions, advise on treatments and support the multidisciplinary team. The pharmacist may check your medicines on admission and discuss them with you to ensure you get the best out of your medicines during your stay.

The role of the physiotherapist in the Community Rehabilitation Unit is to help each patient to achieve and maintain maximum physical function and well-being. On admission, each person is assessed in order to identify any physical problems limiting their functional independence and an individualised exercise programme is compiled. Patients attend the gym daily to carry out their individual programme and also participate in a range of daily classes, education sessions and mobility practice sessions.

Treatments provided by the physiotherapist include, exercise prescription, manual therapy, electrotherapy, education, falls prevention and hydrotherapy. During the course of admission to the Community Rehabilitation Unit, the physiotherapist evaluates the effectiveness of the treatment programme and plans towards discharge with the patient and the other members of the Multidisciplinary Team. At discharge the patient is reassessed and provided with a home exercise programme and referrals are made to community services where appropriate.

The focus of the Occupational Therapy Service in CRU is on helping you to maximise your potential to participate in your everyday activities and to continue living well at home and in your community.

The Occupational Therapist can enhance your independence and quality of life through assessment, goal setting and intervention tailored and responsive to your changing individual needs.

Working together, the Occupational Therapists will use rehabilitation, compensation, adaptation and maintenance approaches to help you to optimise your functional independence in the areas of your life that are meaningful to you. We can explore many areas with you including health promotion education, practical advice on techniques to minimise falls, skills to improve your memory health, strategies for pain and fatigue management and coping with decreased mobility and independence in everyday tasks.

The Occupational Therapist can provide assessment, access to and advice on assistive equipment to maximise your independence and safety, and can carry out a home assessment in your home environment to identify functional independence, equipment and safety needs. The CONNECT programme offers access to computers to build skills for communication and leisure.

Our psychiatry of older age service is accessed on a referral basis through our liaising consultant for psychiatry for older age. Psychiatry of older age assists with anxiety and any mood based concerns.

The Patient Services team comprises of:

• Admissions office
• Clinical administration support staff
• Medical secretarial staff
• Ward clerks
• Healthcare Records Department

The Patient Services administration team work together to provide an efficient, quality based delivery of the administration function services to patients attending the various clinics, in-patient wards and outpatient units in the Hospice.