New campaign calls for universal access to rehabilitation

A major new campaign launched today is calling for an end to the postcode lottery for NHS rehabilitation services that help people recover from the likes of car crashes, cancer or strokes. There is currently no guaranteed access to this vital care and the call is for life-changing NHS rehab services to be made available to everyone in the UK no matter where they live.

The campaign, created by intensive care rehabilitation nurse Kate Tantam and her multi-professional team, celebrates patients’ ‘firsts’ since hopitalisation – the first tentative footsteps or first halting words – monumental milestones for those lucky enough to receive specialist rehabilitation care.

The campaign is supported by more than 20 healthcare charities, royal colleges and professional bodies who are all members of the Community Rehabilitation Alliance, as well as the actor Stephen Fry who needed rehabilitation after breaking his leg, pelvis and several ribs in a fall from a stage at the O2 is also supporting the campaign and presenter Richard Hammond.

Rehabilitation, including Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and language Therapy and Specialist Nutritional Support, plays a vital role in helping people recover after an accident or illness, such as a stroke, cancer or car crash. But shockingly, millions of people don’t have access to NHS rehab services in their area. What’s more, many of these people can’t afford to pay for private rehab services, creating huge economic inequality when it comes to recovery.  When patients don’t have access to rehab, it can slow or halt their recovery, damaging their quality of life and mental health and causing lasting disability, distress and deterioration of health. Quality rehab takes a multidisciplinary team effort, from physiotherapists, nurses, speech and language therapists, support workers, occupational therapists and psychologists, all playing a major role in a patient’s recovery.

The campaign directs people to PetitionForRehab.com, where they can sign a petition calling for rehab to be made available everywhere and for a named rehab lead to be appointed on every hospital trust and board in the UK.

Kate Tantam, ICU rehabilitation nurse and founder of #RehabLegend said: “Rehabilitation gets our patients back to the people and things that they love. Their goals might not seem big – to hold their grandson, to make a cup of tea, to go to the loo on their own, to say ‘I love you’ - but they are mountains to climb if you can’t move your arms or legs or have lost the power of speech.

“Rehabilitation gives people back the lives they have lost. I hope this campaign helps persuade NHS leaders across the UK to provide much needed rehab services.”

The campaign has also been supported by Baroness Ilora Finlay, President of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), and a professor of palliative medicine, who said: “Specialist rehabilitation care is essential to support people to adapt as they grieve for what they have lost – such as the power of speech, the ability to walk, their independence – and it gives them realistic hope of improvement. We must never lose sight of the fact that the person is still there and is of value, not just, say, a ‘car crash victim’ or ‘cancer victim’. “Everyone deserves the right to regain the best life they can, but this can only happen with the right rehabilitation care at the right time and not everyone will get it. Care should not depend on where you live, which is why this campaign for universal access is so vitally important.”

The billboards are live in seven cities throughout the UK and the radio ads are being played nationwide. Some OOH Media has been donated by Jack Arts. Radio airtime was secured by YOU Agency.

Please sign the petition here https://www.petitionforrehab.com/

Kate will be speaking at the South West Acquired Brain Injury Forum meeting in Plymouth on Wednesday 28^th February – please contact info@ukabif.org.uk to sign up or to get more information.