Services A to Z

Infection Prevention and Control Care Checklists will now replace our existing care plans.

How we use IPC Care Checklists

IPC Care Checklists

Guidance and printable versions can be found below.

Recommended Links

The Scottish Newborn Screening Laboratory provides a national screening service to Scotland. The laboratory is situated on level 2B of the Laboratory Medicine Building at the Queen Elizabeth university Hospital in Glasgow. The screening services provided are funded by National Services Division of NHS Scotland and accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) Reference No. 9352.

The scope of tests included in this accreditation can be viewed here

Dried blood spots (Guthrie cards) are received from newborn babies from all over Scotland (approximately 60,000 per year) and tested for nine disorders:

1. Congenital Hypothyroidism (CHT)

2. Cystic Fibrosis (CF)

3. Sickle Cell Disorders (SCD)

4. Phenylketonuria (PKU)

5. Medium Chain Acyl – CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency (MCADD)

6. Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD)

7. Isovaleric Acidaemia (IVA)

8. Glutaric Aciduria Type 1 (GA1)

9. Homocystinuria (HCU)

The aim is to detect these conditions as early as possible to allow affected infants to be placed on the appropriate treatment.

Epilepsy is a condition that affects the brain and causes repeated seizures.

Epilepsy is estimated to affect more than 500,000 people in the UK. This means that almost one in every 100 people has the condition.

Cash machines are available at many hospital locations, including:

• Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow
• Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow
• Gartnavel General Hospital
• Glasgow Royal Infirmary
• Stobhill Hospital.

Clinical Biochemistry is the division of Laboratory Medicine that deals with the measurement of chemicals in blood, urine and other body fluids. These test results are used for the diagnosis and management of the disease. The Clinical Biochemistry services provide advice to Clinicians on the appropriate use of tests, interpretation of results and follow up investigations that may be required.

More Information

Which services are available at the Brownlee Travel Clinic?

Which services are not available at the Brownlee Travel Clinic?

• The Brownlee Travel Clinic does not provide telephone advice to members of the public. Travel health advice for the public is available via www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk
• The Brownlee Travel Clinic does not provide telephone advice to health professionals. Travel health professionals should seek advice from Public Health Scotland’s Travel and International Health team via www.travax.nhs.uk.

How can I make an appointment at the Brownlee Travel Clinic?

• Travellers seeking an appointment at any of our NHS Travel Health Services should call 0800 917 6115 or email Ggc.VaccinationContactCentre@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.
• Travellers who are immunosuppressed, or pre-immunosuppression, can be referred to the Brownlee Centre Travel clinic by their GP or the Specialist team looking after them.

Where is the Brownlee Travel Clinic?

• The clinic is situated in the Brownlee Outpatients Department, Lower Ground, Brownlee Centre, Gartnavel General Hospital, 1053 Great Western Road, Glasgow G12 0YN
• It is open on Wednesday, 9.30am to 12.30pm and can only accept patients who live in the Great Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area.

Support and Information Centres

Support and Information Centres are non-clinical spaces within hospitals. Staff in these Centres can provide information and support on a wide range of health and lifestyle issues, including:

• Information on health conditions
• Caring for relatives and friends
• Benefits and money advice
• Information on lifestyle factors such as stopping smoking, exercise and weight management
• Information on issues such as health rights and NHS complaints
• Details of other local services that may be able to assist you.
• Complaints and concerns about the NHS
• Support groups and services

Who can use the centres?

The centres are open to everyone, including patients, carers, family members, staff and members of the public.

The centres are drop-in, appointments are not necessary.

Where are the centres located?

Family Support and Information Service – located within the NHSGGC Royal Hospital for Children

Support and Information Service – located within most NHSGGC adult acute hospitals

Beatson Information and Support Service – located within the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Care Centre

In some of our hospitals, we have a new patient check-in system for outpatients. This system uses a simple touch screen computer. If you have any concerns or trouble using the new system you can ask one of the guides for help or go directly to the clinic reception desk.

Before your appointment

Attending an outpatient clinic

Outpatient facilities

Further information on attending an outpatient clinic

Find out what to do before your appointment and what to expect when you attend a clinic:

The leaflet is also available in other languages

• Arabic  معلومات للمرضى الخارجيين
• Mandarin, Chinese 门诊患者信息
• Punjabi ਬਾਹਰੀ ਮਰੀਜ਼ਾਂ ਲਈ ਜਾਣਕਾਰੀ
• Polish Informacja dla pacjentów ambulatoryjnych
• Urdu معلومات برائے بیرونی مریض

The Young Onset Dementia (YOD) Service is made up of two clinical psychologists, an occupational therapist (OT), a community psychiatric nurse (CPN), and secretarial support.

The team offer support to patients who have been diagnosed with dementia, and also work with and offer support to family members and carers. They provide a full post-diagnosis service to maximise the quality of life for patients, family members and carers.

About Young Onset Dementia

Dementia is an illness that affects the brain and a person’s ability to manage everyday activities. It can affect all aspects of thinking and feeling, and can cause changes in behaviour.

It is most common in older people, but around 3,000 people in Scotland under the age of 65 will have dementia, including people in their 40s and 50s, or even younger.

When this happens to someone under 65 it is usually called young onset or early onset dementia.

People with learning disabilities such as Down’s syndrome can also develop dementia. They are more likely to develop dementia in their 40s and 50s than the general population.

Dementia in younger people is often not recognised and the needs of younger people with dementia can be very different from those of older people. Younger people and their families are more likely to:

• be in work, and therefore to need support to continue working or help when employment ends
• have financial commitments including supporting children or young adults
• need emotional support to cope with the diagnosis
• have difficulties obtaining an accurate diagnosis
• have one of the rarer forms of dementia

About dementia

There are many kinds of dementia, the most common being Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and Lewy body dementia.

Younger people can have these forms of dementia but are also more likely to have rarer kinds. Dementia can also be present in other conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND), Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

What are the symptoms of dementia?

Each person with dementia will experience it differently. The symptoms depend on which areas of the brain are affected.

Some of the most common symptoms include memory difficulties and confusion about time and place.

The ability to think, reason, and make judgements can also be affected. Handling money and calculating may also become more difficult.

Conditions such as frontotemporal dementia cause early changes in personality and behaviour, although the person’s memory may not be badly affected.

What causes dementia?

We do not know exactly what causes dementia. Some forms of dementia, such as Huntington’s disease, are inherited. Younger people are more likely to have inherited forms of dementia but these are rare.

Most forms of dementia will be caused by a combination of genes and environment but the exact cause in any individual is very difficult to identify.

Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease damages individual brain cells, so that the brain can’t work as well as it used to.

A protein called amyloid builds up in deposits, called plaques, and tiny filaments in the brain cell form tangles. With Alzheimer’s disease there is usually a slow, steady progression of the illness.

Faulty genes may cause the build-up of the amyloid protein. Recent research seems to show that there may also be a genetic factor in other cases of Alzheimer’s disease.

However, this does not mean that someone whose parent had Alzheimer’s will automatically develop the disease.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)

This form of dementia is thought to be the second most common form of dementia in younger people.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a complex condition and difficult to diagnose. It is sometimes called ‘Pick’s disease’ although this name is used less often today.

It is not fully understood how this type of dementia develops. There seems to be an abnormal growth of some types of proteins in the brain cells affecting those parts of the brain responsible for decision making, emotion, language and control of behaviour.

In around 30% –50% of cases there may be a family history of this illness.

Vascular dementia

A problem with the blood supply to the brain can cause some people to have strokes which damage areas in the brain and can cause dementia.

Vascular dementia progresses in ‘steps’ and it is difficult to predict how it will develop. CADASIL is a rare inherited form of vascular dementia that affects younger people.

Information and support for younger people with dementia and their carers

Any person who is newly diagnosed with dementia should receive support from a named individual such as a healthcare worker or worker from a voluntary sector organisation for at least one year.

Alzheimer Scotland and NHS Health Scotland have produced a booklet and DVD called “Younger people with dementia: Living well with your diagnosis”, designed to give useful information to younger people and their families.

People with dementia and their carers were involved in the making of the DVD and can be seen talking about their experiences and offering suggestions on how to live well with dementia. Areas covered include: keeping well and connected; health; money; and work.

• Copies of the DVD can be ordered through the NHSGGC Public Health Resource Directory.
• Film clips from the DVD are also available on the NHS Health Scotland You Tube channel.

Work

If you are still employed you might want to discuss your diagnosis with your employer.

Dementia counts as a disability under the Equality Act 2010, giving you legal protection at work.

You have more rights once you have told your employer about your diagnosis. By law your employer must:

• Make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to help you stay in work
• Assess what risks you face because of your health
• Put adequate measures in place to reduce risk

The booklet can be viewed and downloaded as a PDF file.

Services for younger people with dementia

In Glasgow there are specialist services for younger people with dementia and these include:

Glasgow Younger Persons Support Service (GYPSS)
Alzheimer Scotland Glasgow Younger Persons Support Service (GYPSS)
81 Oxford Street
Glasgow
G5 9EP

This service provides a range of supports including:

• Link Workers who will maintain regular contact with the person with dementia and their family and who can provide information and emotional support.
• A counsellor providing person centred counselling to the person with dementia and/or their carers.
• Group work – groups supporting people with dementia including time limited therapeutic groups, carers groups and carer education.
• A home support service offering one-to-one support for the person with dementia in his or her own home or in the community.
• Day services – a small group of people with dementia supported on a Tuesday and a Friday from the Oxford Street premises.

Young Onset Dementia Service (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde)

It is recognised that younger people with dementia may have more complex needs than others and require additional support. Within NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, younger people may be referred, by their Community Mental Health Team, to a specialist service (the Young Onset Dementia Service) which has been set up to provide additional input for patients under 65 years of age, and /or their family members or carers.

Advice and guidance on all aspects of dementia is available to anyone through Alzheimer Scotland’s 24 hour Freephone Dementia Helpline on 0808 808 3000, and from local Alzheimer Scotland services.

This information has been prepared to provide information for people with dementia, and for their carers.

Partners:

• Glasgow City HSCP
• Glasgow City Council
• Alzheimer Scotland
• The Scottish Dementia Working Group