Our NRC fellow, Amy Speight, has completed her funded year of research looking at rehabilitation for adults following upper limb amputation, and recently presented her work at a Chief AHP fellows celebration event.
Amy is one of our Occupational Therapists at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and completed a systematic review of the literature related to people's experiences following upper limb amputation.
Trans-humeral (upper limb) amputee patients often have their limb difference as a result of major traumatic incidents such as agricultural or industrial accidents or road traffic collisions; burns, sepsis or sarcoma (cancer); or elective surgery to salvage a shoulder joint or eliminate chronic pain.
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NRC Director Miriam Duffy recently spoke at the Neuro-Rehab Times Live 2025 event which focussed on the future of brain and spinal condition treatment in the UK and on a global scale.
Host Alastair MacColl interviewed leading experts including Miriam about what is over the horizon, and there was time for questions from attendees.
A Nottingham mechanic who was paralysed from the face down and had to sleep with his eyes open for three weeks has thanked the rehab team at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) who taught him to walk again.
Luke Pickering, now 31, first knew something was wrong when he woke up with pins and needles in his hands and toes. A week later his whole body was paralysed.
Thanks to the incredible work of staff across NUH, particularly the team at Linden Lodge, Luke survived, learned to walk again, and was eventually able to go home to his partner and two children. He is even back at work as a mechanic.
Luke has also become a patient ambassador for the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), a brand new 70-bed rehab facility which aims to transform rehabilitation in the UK and is due to open to its first patients later this year.
The NRC was delighted to welcome Professor Suzanne Rastick OBE for a tour of our site and facilities ahead of opening our doors to our first patients later this year.
Prof Rastrick has been the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for England since September 2014, and was the first Allied Health Professional (AHP) to hold a substantive Director of Nursing post in both provider and commissioning organisations. She has also held non-executive portfolios outside of the NHS, including audit committee chair roles, predominantly in the housing and charitable sector.
Prof Rastrick said of her visit: "From my parallel life in housing, it was very impressive to see that this purpose-built facility is highly energy efficient, utilising modern methods of construction, and digitally advanced, with capability to incorporate additional cutting edge technology in the future.
The NRC was thrilled to welcome Professor Fary Khan, President Elect of the ISPRM, to the NRC last week. Prof Khan has visited us all the way from Melbourne, Australia.
Prof Khan is a specialist in Physical and Rehabilitation medicine, Director of Rehabilitation Services at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Clinical Professor at the University of Melbourne, the Nossal Institute for Global Health, and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She is current President Elect of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.
Nottingham Forest was delighted to recently welcome lifelong supporters Mark McMahon and Nathan Croft to the City Ground for a special Museum and Stadium Tour to support their rehabilitation journeys following serious injuries.
Both are currently patients at Linden Lodge, a specialist neurological rehabilitation unit at Nottingham's City Hospital. The unit aims to help patients recover following a life-changing illness or injury to improve their quality of life as much as possible to support them to return home or move into a care environment.
Mark is recovering after suffering a traumatic brain injury and Nathan is currently undergoing rehabilitation to strengthen his legs following surgery for a fractured femur.
The fans were invited for a private tour as part of their occupational therapy (OT) to help aid their recovery, navigating to the City Ground by public transport and negotiating their way around the stadium. This allowed them to put the skills they have been learning in their OT and physiotherapy sessions into practice in a safe environment, and to support skills needed in the community.
The grand feature staircase, modern ensuite bathrooms and solar panels on the roof are now all in place at the first NHS National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), as plans which have been in the pipeline for a decade continue to come to life.
The 70-bed purpose-built rehabilitation centre near Loughborough will be staffed and run by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and aims to transform rehabilitation in the UK. The £105million NRC programme is part of the New Hospital Programme.
As 2025 progresses and the NRC prepares to begin accepting its first patients in the summer, construction efforts at the site near Loughborough continue to gather pace, with more than 200 tradespeople working on the build each day.
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