Rehabilitation is the process of recovering from injury. It varies for each individual but typically involves a range of clinical specialists and begins as soon as possible after injury.
Many people return home after an acute hospital stay, following rehabilitation assessment and advice. Some patients have more complex needs requiring prolonged outpatient care or specialist inpatient rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation team
A range of clinical specialists are involved in rehabilitation:
- Doctors
- Nurses
- Physiotherapists
- Occupational therapists
- Dietitians
- Speech and language therapists
- Psychologists
- Social workers
Rehabilitation pathway
We provide a pathway of care through a range of settings. Not all patients will require care at each stage of the pathway. Possible stages include:
- Hyperacute: For patients who are no longer in critical care or high dependency units but still have unstable medical needs. Acute specialities still need to be immediately available for advice or management of complications.
- Acute inpatient: May take place in the Major Trauma Centre or one of our trauma units.
- Inpatient unit: Rehabilitation units provide further inpatient care prior to discharge home. The type of unit required will vary according to need. Some specialist units are outside of the Wessex region.
- Community based: Where possible we aim to get people back to a familiar environment. Multi-disciplinary care is provided at home or in clinic.
- Health and wellbeing: Self-help support strategies to maintain health and wellbeing; provided through charities and local groups.
Rehabilitation prescriptions
All trauma patients with significant injuries receive a rehabilitation prescription. It describes the patient’s needs, outlines the services required to maximise recovery and acts as a communication tool between professionals.
The prescriptions inform our audits and research, helping to identify service gaps and to support improvements to delivery.
Rehabilitation directory
A directory of rehabilitation services within Wessex has been drawn together. This is to support clinicians, patients and loved ones to make plans for rehabilitation. More services will be added as the information is available.
Support organisations
- After Trauma: support for survivors of traumatic injury
- Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust: brain injury rehabilitation services
- Headway: brain injury support
- Limbless Association: supporting lives beyond limb loss
- Spinal Injuries Association: for life after spinal cord injury