Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is the process of recovering from injury. It varies for each individual but typically involves a range of clinical specialists and begins early in hospital.

Our network provides rehabilitation within our intensive care units, acute wards, inpatient rehabilitation units and the community.

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:

  • Medics
  • 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 Sussex region.

  • Community based

    Where possible we aim to get people back in 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

We have developed a directory of rehabilitation services to support clinicians, patients and loved ones to make plans for rehabilitation.

Support organisations

Patient information websites

See the following link to a page of online resources for specific injuries.

View the list of websites