CSP chief executive Karen Middleton has called for a new strategy for rehabilitation care in England, while supporting comments made by Matthew Winn, NHS England’s director of community health.
During a recent webinar, Mr Winn, who is also a senior officer responsible for the NHS Long-Term Plan’s “ageing well” programme, said a new approach to rehab care was required in England – and described the current coverage across the country as “bizarre”, with other services “masquerading” as rehab.
He added that investment in a new, intermediate care strategy aimed to help optimise the recovery of hospital patients, allow them to follow a timely post-discharge care pathway and ensure that they received rehab from a “skilled multi-professional team”.
Karen Middleton, CSP chief executive, said: ‘This is a welcome acknowledgement that the current set-up for rehab services fails patients and also the health and social care systems.
‘Pockets of excellence are surrounded by areas where patients get stuck in hospital long after they are fit to go home and then wait far too long for community-based services to continue their recovery.
The proposed investment and focus on rehab services is very welcome although it needs to ensure there is a genuine transformation, built around the needs of patients, rather than just a better-funded continuation of what currently exists
‘As co-convenors of the Community Rehabilitation Alliance of more than 50 health and social care bodies, we stand ready to work with NHS England to build a better system for people in this country for whom high-quality rehab would make an enormous improvement to their quality of life.’
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