Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy is a method of treatment to assist people with physical, psychological and social problems. The Occupational Therapist focuses on the effects of temporary or permanent illness or disability, on the person’s everyday living and facilitates the return to be as independent as possible.

Occuaptional therapy provides a number of individual and group treatment sessions to children, adults and older persons. Such sessions include: housing adaptations, upper limb rehabilitation, fatigue management, fall prevention and home based programs.

We accept self–referral and referrals from GPs, PHN and all health professionals.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapists work with you to maintain or improve your quality of life by assessing how and why your body moves and functions the way it does. Movement may be problematic in a part of, or the whole body by inactivity; injury, disability; illness or disease which can occur at any stage from birth to old age. Your physiotherapist will advise and guide you to rehabilitate your body to normal ability and function.

In the Living Health Centre the physiotherapist may invite you to a pre-treatment assessment screening clinic and/or see you in the physiotherapy department, individually or as part of a group or class. In some instances we may see people in the home situation or another setting. You may also meet us in our role of providing support and advice to families; carers; or other health professionals on the management of many conditions and in the broader community promoting an active and healthy lifestyle for all.

To assess the physiotherapy service you need a referral from your GP or other health professional.

Public Health Nursing

The Public Health Nursing Service incorporates Public Health Nurses, Community Staff Nurses, Public Health Nurse assigned to the School Health Service, Assistant Director Public Health Nursing, Home and Administrative staff. The Public Health Nursing Service provides the following services:

• Child Health Clinics

• School Follow Up Clinics

• Immunisation Clinics

• Wound Clinics

• Continence Assessment

• Family Meetings to facilitate care planning for individual family member.

Home Supports

The Home Support Service in Cork involves 2200 home help staff, over 20 home help coordinators and a home support service office staff of 2.5 admin which provides services to nearly 6000 clients on a daily basis throughout Cork City and County. Assessment for Home Help Services is carried out by the Public Health Nursing Department and managed by the Home Support Office in Cork.

Speech & Language Therapy

The Speech and Language Therapy Service is for children in the community who have communication impairments. Therapists based in Living Health Mitchelstown serve the people of Mitchelstown and surrounding areas.

Speech & language therapists will assess and provide therapy to develop:

Speech

Language- comprehension & expression

Fluency (stammering)

Non verbal communication

Play

• Provide parent training programmes.
• Provide staff training.
• Work with parents, carers and families, schools, other health professionals and voluntary agencies.

Currently adults from the Mitchelstown area with acquired communication impairments, e.g. after a stroke, are seen in the Gilbert centre in Mallow.

Dietetics

The Community Nutrition and Dietetic Service (CNDS) service is open to adults and children and can be accessed by both GMS and Non GMS patients. All patients require a referral from their GP to see the Dietitian. Dietitians see a broad range of medical conditions requiring dietary intervention such as Heart Disease, Diabetes, Weight Management, Coeliac Disease and many others. Dietitians work with individuals to provide them with knowledge and information on their condition, to prepare meal plans specific to individuals and to assist them make dietary changes suitable to them. The CNDS service also runs a group programme for people with Type 2 Diabetes called XPERT. This programme is run over 6 weeks (2 and a 1/2 hrs per week) and provides people with the knowledge, confidence and skills to look after their Diabetes. The Community Dietitian also offers a family-based programme for childhood obesity. The aim of the programme is to change habits, it is not based on ‘diets’. Information healthy eating is provided to ensure that the child has a balanced diet for growing, playing and learning.

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology- “A HSE Orthoptist provides patient care two days per month in Living Health Primary Care Centre, Mitchelstown, as part of the HSE North Cork Ophthalmology service.

Counselling in Primary Care Services

Counselling in Primary Care Services- A HSE funded Counselling in Primary Care Service is provided in Living Health Primary Care Centre two days a week to Medical Card Holders”.

Diagnostic Service

The Diagnostic service provides local access to x-rays, ultrasounds and Dexa scans.  The HSE funded service is available to GMS patients through GP referral only and is designed to deliver diagnostic services to patients in centres close to where they live.

Community Health Medical Services

The Community Health Medical Services offer and deliver Primary Health prevention services to school going and preschool children. In carrying out this work Community Health doctors work in cooperation with children, parents, schools, and with School and Community Public Health nurses, with health service Administration staff and with GPs. Doctors who work in this area of health care have experience and training in Child Health and in Immunisation work and are experienced in the delivery of Community based medical services.

The following services are provided in the Living Health Clinic

• School Immunisation Programmes – Primary Schools
• BCG Immunisation Programme
• Child Health and follow up screening clinic assessments
• School Health and  follow up screening clinic assessments
• Medical assessment work for Primary Medical Certificate

Access to these services is by appointment

The Cork North Mental Health Services operate out of:

The following Mental Health Services are currently being provided in the Living Health Centre in Mitchelstown:

1. Monthly out- patient clinics are carried out by the Consultant Psychiatrist (Rehabilitation)

2. Review of clients by the Community Mental Health Nurses in the premises.

3. One to one sessions are carried out by Nursing Staff from Cahir Hill Mental Health Resource Centre with their clients in the Living Health Centre.

4. Home based Crisis Team carry out scheduled assessments from the building. The Home Based Crisis Team offers an alternative treatment solution other than hospital admission through short term support/options where appropriate.

5. Advance Nurse Practitioner in Psychotherapy attends on Wednesdays

6. Clinical Nurse Specialist in Psychotherapy attends on Fridays.

7. Clinical Psychologist attends on Tuesdays.

The practitioners outlined above provide psychotherapeutic services to clients with a wide range of clinical diagnosis; they provide therapeutic intervention on either a one-to-one basis or sometimes in group therapy for non-pathological problems of daily living such as:

• Mild to moderate depression
• Relationship difficulties
• Mild to moderate anxiety
• Bereavement
• Bullying
• Eating disorders
• Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse

And to more complex enduring mental health problems such as:

• Psychosis (with mild to moderate functional impairment)
• Bipolar disorder
• Enduring depression (recurrent depression, treatment resistant and chronic)
• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• Borderline personality disorder