About the St Leonards Community Hospital
Current Services
Apart from the in-patient services, St Leonards has many other strings to its bow. There is a very busy Out of Hours Treatment Centre for patients to use if they need treatment when the GP surgeries are closed. This is also led by Nurse Practitioners, and has the added bonus of there being a nurse practitioner on site for much of the out of hours period.
We have a busy Out Patients Department. A daily Physiotherapy clinic, also Audiology, Occupational therapy, Dermatology, Speech and Language therapy, Continence Service clinics, and we are considering extending our clinics to include some for younger members of our community..
The Intermediate Care team for East Dorset, REACT, work from St Leonards Hospital and provide rehabilitation or emergency response for many patients in their own homes, thereby avoiding admission totally or aiding earlier discharge.
Some of our in-patients continue their rehabilitation after discharge by coming into the Link Rehabilitation Centre as an out patient.
The Community Night and Twilight Nursing Service, which provides out of hours district nursing services to all the residents of East Dorset including Bournemouth and Poole is based at St Leonards.
The Hospital also provides a base for the Community Services Manager (East Dorset), Head of School Nursing, Heart Failure Nurse and Community Stroke Care Co-ordinator, with the Wheelchair Clinic, the Integrated Community Equipment store, and South Western ambulance Service on the same site.
How to Find Us
St Leonards Community Hospital is situated on the A31 just outside Ferndown. It is located in its own spacious grounds, with ample free parking. The Hospital is on a single level so is easily accessible for wheelchairs and those with reduced mobility.
Our History
St Leonards was originally built as a war time hospital for the American and Canadian military forces who flew their injured servicemen into Hurn Airport, and then transported them through the forest to the hospital. The old wooden buildings housed a thousand beds. After the war, with the advent of the new National Health Service, St Leonards became a hospital for the elderly with 350 beds, and this is how many people still think of it, but in fact it is very different now.
St Leonards Community Hospital has 2 wards with a total of 50 beds. Currently beds are used as consultant led beds for rehabilitation of the elderly. This means that most of our patients are admitted from the large acute hospitals following operations or trauma. Plans are being developed to use some of the beds in other ways. We have a specialised team of staff who work with the patients to achieve their full rehabilitation potential.
All our patients remark on the lovely atmosphere at St Leonards, which together with the high standards of cleanliness and the wonderful food make it a very happy place to be.
St Leonards is pioneering in the field of nurse led services. While patients are with us most of their care is led by a Nurse Practitioner. We have a Clinical Assistant (ward Doctor) who is also a local GP. He visits in the middle of the day on Mondays to Fridays, and patients receive a visit from their consultant on the weekly ward round. When patients are fit for discharge many are taken on a home visit, by our therapists to make sure that they will be able to manage, and to arrange for any necessary equipment they may need. If it will not be possible for a patient to return to their own home we work closely with our colleagues from Social Services to find a suitable residential placement.
Some Comments From Our Patients
“ Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the care you have given me over the past few weeks…….It has really been like a holiday and I am wondering when I am going to wake up and the dream will be over.”
“I am writing to thank your wonderful staff for all they did for my mother during her stay…..I would like to say how congenial staff were and the kindness they displayed to my mother did not go unnoticed. St Leonards is a fantastic hospital which has a pleasant atmosphere and plays a crucial role in the field of rehabilitation.”