The Neuromuscular Complex Care Centre (NMCCC) is a six-bedded facility designed for overnight stay situated on the first floor Albany Wing in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
The NMCCC has a fully adapted environment and is staffed to meet the needs of people with muscle wasting conditions. Currently NMCCC located in a temporary facility due to the covid pandemic.
The purpose of the NMCCC is to enable multi-disciplinary care to be co-ordinated and delivered in the same place and at the same time as well as to assess your neuromuscular needs over one or a few days (depending upon your needs). We hope this will make hospital visits easier and more convenient for you, by reducing the number of clinics and hospitals you need to attend. We also hope that it will improve communication between different consultants and by providing elective management we aim to reduce the need for acute hospital admission.
“The aim of the Neuromuscular Complex Care Centre (NMCCC) is to wrap elective multi-disciplinary care around the patient with severe physical disability caused by neuromuscular disease in order to reduce hospital visits, including unplanned emergency admissions, and to provide holistic support for the whole person.”
- Neuromuscular consultants and neuromuscular clinical fellows
- Consultants in inherited metabolic disease
- Consultants in motor neurone disease
- Consultant cardiologist
- Neuro-anaesthetic consultant
- Two respiratory consultants with an interest in non-invasive ventilation
- Clinical neuropsychologist
- Consultant gastroenterologist
- Clinical nurse specialist
- NMCCC nurses and nursing assistants
- Physiotherapist
- Occupational therapist
- Speech and language therapist
- Respiratory physiologist
- Dietician
Your neuromuscular consultant will refer you to the NMCCC following their assessment at an outpatient appointment. They will arrange a set of investigations and / or assessment to be undertaken as either part of a yearly or twice-yearly review, or as required for initial diagnostic purposes.
Our admission coordinator will contact you by telephone to arrange an admission date. If you receive a message from the admission coordinator, please act on this as soon as possible.
Once your admission date has been set, we will confirm it to you in a letter. If you have not received a letter from us by one week before your planned admission date, please contact the admission coordinator as soon as possible.
Once your admission date has been confirmed and a letter has been sent to you, you will receive a “pre-admission screen” telephone call from one of the NMCCC nurses. This will be the week before your admission. The purpose of this call is to ensure that you do not have an infectious illness and that you are well enough to attend the appointment. The nurse will also answer any queries you might have.
Due to pandemic issues, we will need to get negative PCR results from patients and family/carers those who are attending with patients. Our admission team will send you test kit and ensure you do your tests as per the instructions sends out. Please do not attend the unit if you are unwell, or any family members have any flu like symptoms, please check and make sure they are covid negative before you can attend your appointment. ring the NMCCC to inform the nurses of this and to arrange another date.
If you cannot make your allocated admission date, we ask that you please notify the NMCCC admission team as soon as possible on 020 3448 3276 or the NMCCC on 020 3448 3317/4727. NMCCC admissions are highly complex and costly to the NHS and our bed numbers are limited. Failure to give notice of cancellation it may cause prevents another person from filling your slot and potentially puts the whole service at risk.
Failure to attend twice without any valued reason you may refer back to your practitioner.
The following routine checks are performed:
- Neurological observation
- Basic cardiovascular observation
- Electrocardiogram (ECG) to check your heart conduction and rhythm
- Spirometry to check your lung capacity
- Blood test
- Weight and nutrition screening
- Skin condition check
- Nursing assessment
More detailed nursing assessments and reports can be done to support you in your applications for home care and university care packages and social support if needed.
You may undergo some or all of the following investigations, depending on your particular symptoms:
- Monitoring investigations:
- Cardiac assessment including Echocardiogram – scan to check your heart function.
- Respiratory assessment including Sleep Study – to check your respiratory function and sleeping patterns overnight, with blood gas analysis to determine oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.
- Gastrointestinal assessment, which may include physiological assessment to assess muscle and nerve function in the gullet, intestine and colon.
- Swallowing and nutritional assessment.
- Physiotherapy and occupational therapy assessment.
- Anaesthetic assessments pre-PEG insertion or other procedures requiring general anaesthetic.
- Diagnostic investigations:
- Neurophysiology
- Gastrointestinal physiology
- X-ray / MRI scan / CT scan
- DEXA scan
- Muscle biopsy
If needed, we can set up and monitor Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV). Also, during follow-up visits the NIV settings can be modified according to assessment findings. Most of these studies/ investigations will be done on the NMCCC.
Other more specialised assessments may be performed elsewhere in the Trust in which cans a member of our staff will accompany you. The NMCCC has daily ward rounds by the neuromuscular or respiratory / neuro anaesthetic consultant. They are also attended by the clinical fellow, ward co-ordinator and NMCCC clinical nurse specialist, who will update you on your progress and the plan for the day.
The NMCCC has a relaxed atmosphere and between assessments you are free to leave the unit and explore the nearby shops and restaurants at your leisure. You may bring a partner or parent with you if you prefer.
We have a weekly multidisciplinary meeting that is attended by a consultant from each of the specialities. Following your admission, we will discuss your NMCCC assessments and then plan your future management and follow-up. Following discharge from the NMCCC, a summary will be sent to you and your GP with details of your assessment.
The Neuromuscular Complex Care clinical nurse specialist may follow up your visit with a telephone consultation after your discharge. The NMCCC also provides telephone access during weekdays only if you require advice or need to contact a member of the Neuromuscular team. The NMCCC nurses may be able to give immediate advice or can arrange for a member of the team to call you back.
Please note that the NMCCC is an elective facility, it does not take acute admissions. If you are acutely unwell, we recommend that you seek advice from your GP or local hospital. If you are admitted to hospital, please let us know and we will try our best to provide advice to the local hospital team.
The chaplains are a multi-faith/ multi-denominational team offering spiritual and personal care to all patients, staff and visitors throughout University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
If you would like to see a chaplain during your stay, please ask the ward staff to contact the appropriate chaplain for you. Everyone is welcome to use the Hospital’s chapels.
Unless you ask us not to, we will inform the appropriate authorised hospital chaplain /faith representative about your religious affiliation.
The service has been set up to help patients and their relatives and carers find a speedy and effective solution to any problems they may encounter.
PALS offer the following:
- A patient friendly, easy to access, confidential service designed to provide a personal contact to assist patients, relatives and carers.
- On the spot advice and information if you have queries or difficulties.
- Listening to your concerns and help to you to find ways of resolving them
- To take note of what you tell us to help improve the service our hospitals offer to patients.
- A point of contact for all those wishing to get advice and information about the hospital’s services.
If you wish to make a formal complaint, please write with full details to UCLH’s Complains Officer. Details can be found on our website.
What do I need to bring to the hospital?
Your change of clothes, toiletries, and all current medications. If you’re using any medical equipment at home, please also bring that - for example, PEG feed/ tubing/pump, hoist slings, NIV, cough machine, electric wheelchair battery charger.
Can my parents / carer stay with me?
All visitors are welcome to stay with you during the day. However, if your visitor wishes to stay with you overnight, please discuss with our senior member of staff. We do have space limitations but if agreed we can provide an armchair for one visitor/ carer at the patient bed side.
Do you have a Wi-Fi access?
Yes, but each patient has limited time only. There is free Wi-Fi connection available for patients use. Also, we have a ward iPad and PlayStation that you may wish to use.
Do you have a single room?
Unfortunately, we don’t have single room facility available currently.
What kind of facilities do you have?
We have overhead ceiling truck hoists over each patient bed and bathroom, Touch panel disabled access to the ward and a bathroom that contains: closamat toilet, wet room shower chair and adjustable washbasin, barrier free tearoom with a large Freeview TV with PS3, overhead Wi-Fi connect TV each patient bed side, wheelchair weight scale, suction facility, electric hospital bed, Duo mattress (if necessary) and bedside lockers.
(Due to changes made during COVID19, NMCCC is temporarily located on first floor Albany Wing, facilities may differ from the above mentioned)
Neuromuscular Complex Care Centre
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
Queen Square
London WC1N 3BG
Switchboard: 0845 155 5000 or 020 3456 7890
NMCCC: 020 3448 3317 / 4727
NMCCC admission co-ordinator: 020 3448 3276 sonia.damotagomes@nhs.net
Patient Transport: 020 3456 7010
Car Parking: If patient and relatives have a blue badge in their car, limited parking spaces are available in front of the hospital around Queen Square. Please note that parking in the hospital ambulance bay is not permitted at any time (24-hour CCTV camera operation).
Services
Page last updated: 24 May 2024
Review due: 30 September 2024