The Trust
Rheumatology Service
Rheumatology is a service offering diagnosis, treatment and an ongoing multidisciplinary care for patients with rheumatological conditions which require specialist care, for example Rheumatoid Arthritis. Conditions such as Osteoarthritis can usually be managed by your own doctor.
Our departmental objectives
We aim to provide early diagnosis and supportive multidisciplinary care and treatment for rheumatology patients. We engage in patient centred care to optimise quality of life.
Our team
The service has a multi-disciplinary team which includes: consultants, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and a research nurse.
Our services
Clinics are held at Macclesfield District General Hospital and Knutsford and District Community Hospital. Our consultants deal with a large range of rheumatology conditions and we offer ongoing support and treatment for those with long-term conditions.
We provide:
- Paediatric rheumatology clinics
- Specialist nurse led clinics – Diagnosis and management of inflamatory arthritis including drug education and assessment and review.
- Biologics therapies assessment and reviews
- Joint injections
- Connective tissue disease assessment and review
- Arthritis review clinic for Rheumatoid Arthritis patients, held at Waters Green Medical Centre, Macclesfield.
- Joint injections - consultant / rheumatology specialist nurse referral only, undertaken by consultant rheumatologists, specialist registrar and accredited rheumatology specialist nurse.
- Education programme - for patients with inflammatory arthritis run by the rheumatology occupational therapists with input from, specialist nurses, physiotherapist etc.
- Specialist advice regarding the management of osteoporosis
How do I refer/access the service?
Referrals for our service are from GPs and other hospital consultants. Our specialist nurses run a telephone advice line service for all existing patients.
Who will I see?
Initially you will see a consultant rheumatologist or Specialist Registrar and then a range of other members of the team as appropriate, e.g. rheumatology specialist nurse, rheumatology occupational therapist and rheumatology physiotherapist.