A neurorehabilitation Occupational Therapist based at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has successfully completed a research project into improving discharge for complex rehabilitation patients leaving the brand-new National Rehabilitation Centre.
The NRC, a 70-bed state-of-the-art specialist rehabilitation centre for NHS patients who have experienced a life-changing illness or injury, will be run and staffed by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) when it opens in early 2026.
Anna Marshall, who works in the Reablement Team at City Hospital, received funding from the NHS England Midlands Fellowship Programme to carry out the research.
Her project ‘Preventing Barriers to Discharge in Complex Rehabilitation at the NRC’ aimed to uncover different ways to support patient flow and discharge from the NRC by working with a range of stakeholders.
As a result of this research, Anna has created a responsibility chart to provide clarity for the new NRC roles and the multi-disciplinary team that will be based at the centre to support them to work collaboratively towards a successful patient discharge, whilst also ensuring the patient is informed during the process.
Anna said: “I felt inspired to work on this project working as a Neuro Occupational Therapist across acute, inpatient and community settings where I often see the importance of timely and informed discharges but also have experience of the complexities around discharge.
“One of the key impacts from my project has been strengthening internal and external relationships and engaging with key stakeholders about future discharges from NRC.
“I have also had the opportunity to gather and shared insights from other rehabilitation units to help the NRC team optimise the rehabilitation flats for clinician and patients to make informed discharge decisions.”