In the UK, clinical rehabilitation is at a critical juncture.
Advances in medicine over recent years have led to a significant increase in survival rates following serious injury or illness, which is fantastic. However this puts a greater demand on rehabilitation services, with many patients having complex conditions and rehabilitation needs. Covid-19 has only exacerbated this, particularly when it comes to pulmonary rehabilitation, and an ageing population will only add more pressure going forwards.
It’s vital that we really step up the provision and quality of clinical rehabilitation to align with the improved survival rates and help people move on from their serious illness or injury to get back to work and life. But with limited numbers of Healthcare Professionals and the immense pressure that Healthcare services are under, how do we achieve this?
I see the answer in technology. Advanced technology can support our healthcare professionals by preventing hospital admissions (and re-admissions) in the first place, by developing personalised solutions that allow for more effective treatments, and by giving patients more control over their own rehabilitation.
There’s already fantastic work going on. Virtual reality based therapies, rehabilitation robotics, wearable sensors, interactive media applications and direct neural control of prosthesis are just a few recent exciting advances that have shown us what really effective rehabilitation could look like in future.
But I feel we need co-ordination at a national scale to accelerate innovation in areas of greatest need. That’s why we've set up the new EPSRC Rehabilitation Technologies Network+. The network launches this week, and is bringing together experts in the field to identify the pressing issues in rehabilitation and develop novel, disruptive technologies to solve them.
With generous funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the network is being jointly led by the University of Nottingham and Loughborough University. It is connected to the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) near Loughborough, which will provide the focus for the network’s innovation, and where we’ll integrate technologies into rehabilitation programmes. We’re looking to create the next generation of rehabilitation technologies, and provide a pipeline of innovations for when the NRC opens to patients in 2024.
The network will target both physical and mental health conditions. We will be funding feasibility projects, aiming to achieve a radical transformation in rehabilitation programmes. For instance, it may be through patient specific devices that respond to a patient’s changing condition or interactive technologies that are tailored to the patient’s work and social activities.
As well as novel technologies, we also need highly skilled professionals, best in class training and state of the art facilities. Through the NRC, we have a fantastic opportunity to do all of this to the highest standards, all under one roof. If we can take this opportunity, I’m confident the UK can be a world leader in terms of clinical rehabilitation, and technology has a huge role to play.
I’d encourage anyone interested in the future of clinical rehabilitation to attend the EPSRC Rehabilitation Technologies Network+ online launch event to find out more.
It’s taking place on Wednesday 30 March and you can sign up for the event here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rehabilitation-technologies-network-launch-event-registration-245771397867
For more information of the network, visit our website at www.rehabtechnologies.net/