Right to rehab influencing tool

Immersive influencing

Persuading decision-makers to prioritise rehab and its workforce requires at least three core tools - economics, an evidence base and patient stories.

But a patient can’t always be at an influencing meeting to sway healthcare leaders mapping resources to measures – or politicians pushing for change. This challenge was behind the CSP’s creation of a new digital, immersive experience that brings the patient experience to 3D life. 

Using augmented reality technology, the immersive experience, titled Alice’s Road to Recovery, allows the user to see the world through the eyes of someone recovering from a health crisis and going through rehab. 

The user sees Alice’s experiences as she wakes up in hospital unable to move, then learns to walk again with the help of physiotherapy staff. 

‘The experience only works on smartphones and tablets, and not on desktop computers. As one of the world’s first digitally immersive patient case studies, this new tool can be used as an influencing conversation starter or as a focal point of in-person events. You need to use headphones with your smartphone or tablet for the full experience

Hard-hitting stats in the experience include at least half of people who need rehab miss out. 

The footsteps in the experience belong to Jo, who, after a bilateral stroke, was unable to move without intensive rehab support from occupational therapists and physiotherapy staff. Prints of her first steps after rehab were used in the First Steps billboard adverts in February and were recreated in this #RightToRehab campaign immersive experience. 

Alice is a combination of several real patient stories. Her health crisis is unspecified so it works for influencing about any type of rehab.

Through her journey back to health, Alice is helped by a whole range of rehab professionals, emphasising the multi-disciplinary nature of rehab – a model of person-centred, integrated care. 

The experience has been designed with accessibility in mind, with speech-to-text, subtitles, useable for non-ambulatory people, and it is available in Welsh.

Become a rehab champion and join our #RightToRehab campaign. There is a social media toolkit, facts on rehab, and a trailer for Alice’s Road to Recovery which you can access via this link. Together we can make change happen.