Covid-19: UCL pilots virtual rehabilitation for discharged stroke patients

Brain injury and stroke patients being discharged from hospital earlier than normal, due to the coronavirus pandemic, will receive virtual rehabilitation at home, as part of an innovative pilot study led by UCL and supported by the charity SameYou. As a result of the global crisis, critical care beds across the country, including those in specialist neurological hospitals, are being freed up to care for Covid-19 patients. This means brain injury and stroke patients, who might typically spend six weeks in hospital to recover and rehabilitate, are being discharged back home in less than two weeks. This is to make beds available and to also protect these often elderly and/or vulnerable patients, who might be at heightened risk of infection by Covid-19. Due to the current crisis, community rehabilitation teams are less able to do home visits, so to ensure patients continue to receive high quality support, the UCL Centre for Neurorehabilitation, who work alongside the UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), plan to deliver all stroke rehabilitation remotely, covering both emotional and physical recovery. With the support of dedicated fundraising by SameYou, the team led by UCL's Professor Nick Ward with the support of UCLH, are repurposing a web portal to deliver innovative virtual group sessions (up to 20 people) into homes via laptops/tablets and smartphones. Via the portal, sessions will be timetabled and patients will be invited to take part.