The country’s first NHS National Rehabilitation Centre has opened its doors to patients, marking a major milestone for specialist rehabilitation research and care – with the University of Exeter and NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre supporting its national research ambitions.
The National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), based on the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate near Loughborough, welcomed its first patients on 2 September.
The new £107 million, 70-bed centre is run by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and will provide specialist rehabilitation for people who have experienced life-changing illness or injury.
Alongside providing clinical care, the NRC aims to transform rehabilitation research, innovation, education and training across the country.
The University of Exeter is part of the NRC Academic Network, a collaboration bringing together 26 universities across England. Exeter’s involvement is supported by the NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre, where rehabilitation is a core research theme.
The network brings together researchers, educators and clinical partners to help coordinate rehabilitation research and accelerate the translation of new discoveries and technologies into patient care.
Speaking when Exeter’s involvement in the NRC Academic Network was announced, Professor Sallie Lamb, Director of the NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre and Rehabilitation Theme Lead, said:
“At Exeter we have a strong focus around rehabilitation research, working with our NHS partners to help people maintain mobility throughout their lives. This work has been strengthened through being a core theme of our NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre, designed to translate this research into patient benefit as swiftly as possible.
“We’re excited to work with the National Rehabilitation Centre, which will further progress this really important priority for patients across the UK.”
The NRC features some of the NHS’s most advanced rehabilitation technology, including a comprehensive robotics suite designed to support patients as they relearn movements such as walking and using their hands. It also includes the UK’s first 360-degree partial body weight support system, enabling patients to practise walking and movement in a more realistic environment.
Patients will also have opportunities to take part in research during their stay, helping researchers test and develop new approaches to rehabilitation and reduce the time between identifying effective treatments and bringing them into patient care.
The NRC’s long-term ambition is to become the national hub for rehabilitation, supporting the development of regional centres across the country and sharing research, innovation and expertise more widely.
The NIHR Exeter BRC’s Rehabilitation research focuses on developing and testing new approaches to help people recover from illness, improve mobility and maintain independence, including the development of personalised and technology-enabled rehabilitation.
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