Rehab at home for stroke patients

Stroke patients are set to receive rehabilitation in their homes as new scheme starts.

Patients across Walsall and Wolverhampton will be discharged from hospital earlier, but will still receive specialist seven-day care in their homes or elsewhere in the community in a bid to speed up their return to independence.

While bed-based services will still be available from the West Park Rehabilitation Hospital it will be for shorter periods, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said.

The new service will be put in place in the spring.

Teams from Walsall Healthcare and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trusts have developed the community rehabilitation service with recommendations provided by both the West Midlands Clinical Senate and Walsall Council's Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Stephanie Cartwright, group chief community and partnerships officer for the Trusts, said: "We want to develop a new service that is in line with the NHS 10 Year Plan to deliver more proactive, community-based care and reduce reliance on hospital-based services and what we have proposed is a stroke rehabilitation service that provides an opportunity for more patients to receive their rehabilitation at home."

The community rehabilitation will be delivered by a specialist multi-disciplinary team including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, psychologists, speech and language therapists, and social care professionals.

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