I passionately believe that after serious injury or disease, good clinical rehabilitation is absolutely vital to achieving a satisfactory quality of life, whatever your age. I’m 72 now and was a spritely 66 when I experienced this first-hand.
When the glider I was piloting crashed, my family and the doctors thought I’d be lucky to survive, let alone walk again. But within a year, I had managed to recover sufficiently to restart work, and have gone on to regain a quality of life which is not far short of what it would have been had I not fallen out of the sky entangled inside a completely destroyed aeroplane.
How did I achieve this? Thanks to skilled surgeons of course, but also thanks to the many people who helped and encouraged me, throughout my rehabilitation, to get up and get going again.
Before my accident, I worked as a doctor in the NHS and ran hospitals for 30 years. That gives me a unique perspective: not only do I see my clinical rehabilitation from the point of view of a patient, but also as a healthcare professional and as a contributor to important research studies.
That is why I’m so keen to share my journey and my own patient story for the benefit of others. Telling stories and asking questions is the route to enhanced understanding. With that understanding, you can improve both treatment and, most importantly, speed recovery and improve quality of life. Let me illustrate this from my experience.
I suffered multiple injuries in the crash; both my legs were mangled, and I chose to have one amputated below the knee. In my view, amputation is a treatment option not a treatment failure, and it certainly proved to be the right choice for me. Of course, it wasn’t immediately obvious to me exactly what kind of impact it would have. There was so much to learn: from walking, to going up and down stairs, from driving to taking a shower, familiar things required re-learning. And through that process, I acquired knowledge and experience I can use to benefit myself and others.
I can pass on what it feels like when you’re in that wheelchair and want to be up and independent again. I can talk about the frustrations of physiotherapy when you feel as if you’re not making progress. I can share stories about my mental and physical journey that shed light for others on the kinds of things that go through a patient’s head.
All of this knowledge can be used, and I’m proud that it is being used in the case of the new NHS National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) that is currently being planned, and will be built in the grounds of the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate near Loughborough. I am a member of a patient group that is working alongside clinicians and hospital planners to inform decision-making about everything from the future designs of the NRC building itself to equipment and treatment programmes. The patient insight is precious and, with the NRC, we are determined to put a premium on it.
Ultimately this is about improving lives as well as clinical outcomes. If you have asked people what they find difficult or what’s giving them a problem, you’ll know more and can then anticipate not just their future needs, but also those of other patients like them.
I see the patient as being part of the team that’s working to create the NRC. We have a voice and a contribution to make alongside that of the public, clinicians, NHS bosses and government. This is a collective effort to achieve a potentially significant prize.
On my journey from glider wreck to functioning father, employee, husband and ultimately ‘being me again’, I’ve had choices to make and mental barriers to overcome that have been every bit as daunting as the physical ones. I’ve learned that motivation is a massive part of recovery. I’m lucky. I had reasons to want to get back and the means and support to do so. Not everyone is so fortunate. So I also want to champion the benefits of quality clinical rehabilitation in sustaining motivation and reflect on how the NRC will help.
My physiotherapy regime – like that of many others – required perseverance, adherence, variety and, of course, some enjoyment along the way. You need all those things to stick at it and have faith in it. As well as fantastic facilities and expert staff, I know that the NRC will have a culture that encourages that mental side just as much as the physical side. That’s exciting.
From more than 30 years’ experience of working in the NHS and from my insight as a patient, I have never seen anything that requires so much multi-disciplinary working as clinical rehabilitation. It’s tough but when teams are totally integrated, the results can be staggering.
I would like to see more people get mentally and physically better after serious injury and illness. I would like to contribute my knowledge and my patient perspective where that can help. I would like to know that the opportunity to create this remarkable facility with the NRC has been taken and not squandered.
I am walking proof – and I can say that – of why rehabilitation matters. Thank you for reading my story.