Community Services
Our community support services are committed to providing the best possible care and support to enable people to remain living in their own homes, or supported accommodation, and to retain as much independence as possible.
The service is led by the Community Support Manager, supported by the District Nursing Team, Community Care Assistants, Residential Support Workers, and Occupational Therapist.
To contact the Community Support Team please call +500 28048 or +500 28049 from Monday to Friday, between 08:30 and 16:30
Theatre
We have a well-equipped operating theatre suite with 24-hour capability for patients requiring surgery, staffed by a consultant general surgeon and anaesthetist. The surgeon is able to perform both elective and emergency procedures. On average, over 500 surgical procedures take place each year, excluding procedures carried out by visiting specialists. The anaesthetist cares for both adults and children, and manages patients who require intensive care.
Public Health
The Chief Medical Officer is the Government's chief adviser on health issues and public health. These responsibilities include some aspects of environmental health, including food handling and hygiene. The hospital’s pathology laboratory assists in this by analysing samples of water, milk, meat, fish, etc.Following the approval of aPublic Health Strategy in 2019, the development and delivery of evidence based initiatives to improve the wellbeing of the Falkland Islands community is supported by the Public Health Unit.The Public Health Unit provides additional resource for research, population health monitoring and the development of policy and intervention programmes to target disease prevention. The unit works closely with colleagues in Health and Social Services Directorate, as well as across other government departments and the community, to ensure joined up thinking with regards to public health.
Inpatient Care
There is a resident Consultant General Surgeon and Consultant Anaesthetist available 24/7. Other medical and surgical specialist care is provided by visiting consultants, who come from the NHS in the UK, or South America. The hospital also has good links with specialist units in the UK and can request telephone advice from these units.
Resident GPs also provide inpatient care, including emergency care, obstetric and paediatric care, and provide elderly care to the long-stay residents. In addition to this they provide a limited police forensic service and undertake aeromedical evacuation of critical patients to Uruguay.
Patients requiring a stay in hospital will be cared for in single sex bays. The hospital also has an intensive care unit which ordinarily has two beds, but has capacity to ventilate up to four patients.
Primary Care
There are six GPs (general practitioners) working in the Falkland Islands, five are full-time and one is part-time. Together they provide medical care from the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. GPs provide the medical, accident and emergency, obstetric, out of hours and out of hospital services, in addition to their GP clinics.
Patients who live in remote rural areas are provided with a medicine chest containing commonly used medicines. They also receive telephone consultations and also a flying doctor service from GPs using the Falkland Islands Government Air Service.
Primary care appointments take place daily during weekdays, between 9:50am and noon, and between 2:30pm and 4:30pm. This is with the exception of Wednesday, when clinics close at 3:30pm and Thursday afternoons which are allocated to team administration and meetings. You can book an appointment by calling the hospital reception on 28000.
The hospital also has a practice nurse, primary care assistant and an advanced nurse practitioner who provide primary nursing care, with clinics to support the management of long-term conditions, women’s health, general health checks and the management of minor illnesses.
