National Rehabilitation Centre opens to first patients

The country’s first NHS National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), based in Nottinghamshire, has today welcomed its first patients, launching a new chapter for rehabilitation in England.

Built by Integrated Health Projects (IHP), the joint venture between VINCI Building and Sir Robert McAlpine, the NRC is a 70-bed, state-of-the-art specialist rehabilitation centre for NHS patients who have experienced a life-changing illness or injury and is run and staffed by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).

NUH has developed a transformative clinical model to be able to deliver more intensive treatments and rehabilitation earlier in a patient’s journey, and has created a bespoke workforce and relevant training to support this.

The brand-new facility is co-located with the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) on the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate (SHRE) near Loughborough.

The concept of establishing Defence and National Rehabilitation centres on a single site was that of the late 6th Duke of Westminster back in 2009 and he purchased the SHRE for the purpose. At the same time the Black Stork Charity was specifically created to achieve the overall concept – not least by means of a successful funding campaign to raise the necessary £300m to create the Defence establishment and enable the National one.

Capital funding for the construction of the NRC was provided by the government’s New Hospital Programme, and the building is the NHS’s first single-site operationally carbon neutral building, featuring solar panels on the roof of the NRC and four air source heat pumps in the adjacent energy centre.

The long-term ambition for the NRC is to be the national ‘hub’ in a future ‘hub and spoke’ model, or a single model multi-site service, with regional rehabilitation units (‘spokes’) established across the country to widen impact and benefit as many patients as possible.

NHS patients at the NRC will benefit from:

• Earlier access to rehabilitation to enable better outcomes

• Bespoke intensive rehabilitation programmes for each patient, supported by a dedicated and highly-skilled workforce, to enable them to reach their full potential during their recovery

• Unlimited access to the 365-acre countryside Stanford Hall Estate including a 5km trim trail, a hand-cycle track, a fishing lake, and a pitch and putt golf course

• The most comprehensive robotics suite in the NHS, featuring cutting-edge technology from across Europe, including robots and devices which can be used when helping patients to walk again, relearn how to use their hands, and build function in specific parts of their body

• The first 360-degree partial body weight support system Zero G (similar to a hoist) in the UK, located in the main NRC gym and enabling patients to learn to walk and move in a more realistic way

• A digitally-advanced facility with real-time location technology to ensure patient and staff safety, a silent nurse call system and intelligent bedside screens to promote patient independence.