Consultation on a new NHS Rehabilitation Centre

North of England Commissioning Support have started  an 8-week public consultation on the development of an NHS Rehabilitation Centre on the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate (SHRE) near Loughborough.  NECS is working on behalf of  NHS  Nottingham & Nottinghamshire CCG  on the consultation of a proposed £70m NHS Rehabilitation Centre. The consultation period will be 27 July to the 18 September 2020 .

The proposed Centre is expected to provide greater access to high quality rehabilitative care that helps patients develop their skills and functioning for daily living that have been lost or impaired due to sickness, injury or disability. The proposed £70m  centre would be built on the SHRE, close to Loughborough.  The site also hosts the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) which provides high quality rehabilitation services to military personnel. There has been an ambition to treat NHS patients as well as military personnel on the SHRE from its inception, with the recognition that this benefits both defence medical services and the NHS. However, NHS patients would be treated in a separate facility by NHS staff only.

The NHSRC will provide services that cover the East Midlands Major Trauma Network, which means patients from across the region will be treated at the facility. The NHS believes that the NHSRC would deliver better outcomes for patients with the development of a strategy that includes rehabilitation for a range of complexities and injuries and reduced delays to access services.

There are a number of reasons for the recommended change to services set out as part of the consultation:

• Creating a high-quality centre of rehabilitation excellence in the East Midlands

• Contributing to a shortage in NHS rehabilitation inpatient capacity

• Improving access to services

• Improving outcomes and the patient experience through a new clinical model

• Ability to respond to changes in future service needs and models

• Reducing pressures on the acute bed base.

The NHSRC would provide high quality care, underpinned by leading expertise and best practice in one of the best facilities in the NHS.   Rehabilitation patients may have experienced the following:

• Major trauma following, for example, a road traffic collision or an accident at work

• Neurological problems such as an injury to the brain 

• Complex musculoskeletal injury with damage to bones, joints and muscles

• Traumatic amputation

• Incomplete spinal cord injury resulting in paralysis

• Post-COVID-19 (Coronavirus) conditions.

There is a significant opportunity to improve lives, develop leading expertise in rehabilitation and, at the same time, use NHS resources more efficiently.

A copy of the public consultation document is attached to this briefing and can be found online at  https://nottsccg.nhs.uk/rehab-centre-consultation/

Citizens, patients and other interested parties can share their feedback via an online survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NHS-RC

Three online events will take place for members of the public and patients to attend and share their views. These will provide an opportunity for clinical leaders to explain the proposal and gain insight from attendees. 

The following page on the CCG web page contains all of the information and materials for this consultation, including the full consultation document:  https://nottsccg.nhs.uk/rehab-centre-consultation/.