First patients arrive at delayed £105m rehab centre

A new £105m NHS rehabilitation facility which was due to open last year has welcomed its first patients.

The National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) at Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire, was created to help people with life-changing illnesses or injuries achieve the best recovery possible, and has been 15 years in the making.

The state-of-the-art 70-bed facility, which opened on Wednesday, had been due to open on 11 November, but a failed water quality check meant the opening was delayed.

Anthony May, chief executive of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), which runs the site, said the opening was a "significant moment" for rehabilitation medicine in England.

Health bosses want the centre to be the blueprint for the way care is delivered across the NHS.

The NRC, which will share facilities with the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), based at the same 365-acre site, aims to deliver more intensive treatments and rehabilitation earlier in a patient's journey.

It will receive patients from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Rutland, with many of them anticipated to come through the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre based at NUH.

Neil Smith, a self-employed builder from Milford in Derbyshire, was the first person to be admitted to the facility, near Loughborough, on Wednesday.

He was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, a condition that affects how signals to and from the body are processed in the brain, and said it was triggered by complications following a surgical procedure.

"Walking and standing are difficult," he said.

"Our focus now is on managing the tremors and hopefully getting me back on my feet.

"I look forward to being able to play sport with my son again."

Smith, who was also celebrating his 37th birthday, added: "It obviously makes the day even more special for me.

"Knowing that I'll receive the best possible care here is the best birthday present I could ask for."

Dr Javvad Haider, rehabilitation medicine lead at NRC and Smith's consultant, said: "Neil is a very specific case where his condition is quite disabling and requires a very specialist team approach in dealing with this condition.

"The NRC, together with its advanced technology and purpose-built environment, gives us the ability to deliver rehabilitation at a level beyond anything we have previously experienced.

"For a patient like Neil, the NRC could be life-changing."

The centre, which will have the equivalent of a 200-strong full-time workforce, will be able to accommodate 700 patients per year.

Patients will be given a combination of physical rehabilitation and psychological support during their stay, which will typically range from two weeks to three months.

Miriam Duffy, director of the NRC, said: "The purpose-built building has been designed very carefully to enable patients to be as independent as possible as soon as they get here.

"We have got the most advanced rehabilitation robotics that will help us increase the intensity of the rehabilitation we can offer, and we've got a very strong well-being team for patients.

"We've spent a long time planning our clinical service, taking best practice from all around the world, to deliver early intensive rehabilitation for people.

"Our aim is to revolutionise rehabilitation across the country so that every NHS patient who suffers a life-changing illness or injury receives the best rehabilitation possible and the best chance to return to living an independent and fulfilling life."

May added the difference the facility will make to patients and families "cannot be underestimated".

He said: "We are standing on the precipice of something unique and ground-breaking.

"The NRC has been 15 years in the making.

"This is a significant moment for NUH, for rehabilitation medicine in this country, and for the many NHS patients whose lives will be changed and restored in this pioneering facility, set in a unique location.

"Moreover, the innovation, research and knowledge generated from the NRC will help develop rehabilitation nationally and internationally."

Listen to BBC Radio Nottingham on Sounds and follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.