Rehab services ‘very bizarre’ in some places, says NHSE director

NHS England’s director of community health has said a new strategy for rehabilitation care is needed, because present coverage is sometimes ‘bizarre’, with other services ‘masquerading’ as rehab.

Matthew Winn, who is also Cambridgeshire Community Services Trust CEO and senior responsible officer of the “ageing well” programme in the NHS long-term plan, made the comments in a webinar for local senior clinicians and managers in the sector.

He said there was an intention to roll out a national “intermediate care strategy”, describing it as “the essence” of providing rehabilitation and helping hospital patients to “optimise, to recover, to rehab through a skilled multiprofessional team”. They would leave hospital in a “timely pathway” and not need as much social care support afterwards.

It comes amid huge pressure to speed up hospital discharge, which often relies on rehab services.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 14 July 2022