Consultant Community Geriatrician and Clinical Director

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Shelagh O'Riordan is a consultant geriatrician with extensive experience across acute and community healthcare settings. After 14 years as a consultant at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust, she joined Kent Community NHS Trust in 2016 as a community geriatrician, where she has since led significant developments in frailty care.

Shelagh established the East Kent Community Frailty Team, a service built around 3 strands.

1. Providing medical cover across 7 community hospitals.

2. They undertake frailty proactive care as part of the MDT based with integrated neighbourhood teams.

3. In March 2020, as the pandemic struck, the team urgently set up a Frailty Hospital at Home to provide an alternative offer for people living with frailty to hospital admission. This service has grown and is now one of the largest in the country.

Shelagh serves as the National Clinical Lead for Urgent Care Out of Hospital, covering Hospital at Home and virtual wards. She leads the GIRFT Virtual Ward programme, supporting teams across the country to improve services through clinically-led, data-driven reviews. Since 2022, she has been instrumental in shaping the national strategy to evolve virtual care into genuine Hospital at Home models.

Shelagh is President of the UK Hospital at Home Society and is also Clinical Director for Frailty for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, where she manages 2 large Frailty Hospital at Home services and continues to work clinically in East Kent.

Outside of clinical leadership, Shelagh is a keen cyclist and is often seen out attending patients by bicycle!