Overview of the consultation
NHS Coventry and Warwickshire ICB are consulting on the potential future locations of 35 community rehabilitation beds in South Warwickshire.
We know patients recover better and more quickly at home. We have services in place to support that and it means more people than ever are able to leave our acute hospitals and go straight back to their homes or usual place of residences.
However, there will always be people who need further rehabilitation support as an inpatient in a community hospital before they are able to go home. In South Warwickshire, we have 35 community rehabilitation beds available to support this cohort of people and we support about 550 patients a year through this service.
Community rehabilitation beds are mainly used for patients who need extra rehabilitation support before going home after a hospital stay. They can also be used for patients who need more support than they can get at home, but who don’t need to be in hospital. They are not beds that are used in an emergency and they do not offer specialised rehabilitation support, such as the support you need after a stroke or brain injury.
This consultation seeks to understand the potential impacts of the proposed changes to the location of our 35 rehabilitation beds in South Warwickshire and gather feedback before any decisions are made. Your views are vital in shaping a decision that ensures the best, patient-centred care for all.
Background
In South Warwickshire, there are two community hospitals with hospital beds for community rehabilitation purposes:
- Ellen Badger Hospital in Shipston on Stour. (Currently closed for redevelopment and beds temporarily relocated to Leamington Spa Hospital)
- Nicol Unit at Stratford Hospital
Community hospitals are small, bedded units that provide a range of services, including treatments, rehabilitation and end-of-life care. They play a crucial role in speeding up the process of patients leaving acute hospitals and they can also prevent people from having to go into hospital in the first place, albeit to a lesser extent.
Previously, 16 community rehabilitation beds were hosted at the Ellen Badger Hospital in Shipston and 19 were hosted at the Nicol Unit at Stratford Hospital. Unlike Stratford Hospital, Ellen Badger Hospital was only used for community rehabilitation and there were no other bedded services delivered from the site.
In 2018, SWFT began modernising the Ellen Badger site. In order to accommodate this redevelopment and the necessary building work, the community rehabilitation beds hosted there were temporarily relocated to Leamington Spa Hospital in January 2022.
Since then, changes in the local population, patient needs, and national healthcare plans have made it important to review our community rehabilitation provision. This review included factors such as the increase in community-based support, where the patients using community rehabilitation beds come from, the most effective way to deliver these services, and how we can provide patients using these beds with the best standard of care. There is more information on the factors considered in the consultation document.
The review identified two options for the future configuration of community rehabilitation beds, and it was decided that we should carry out a consultation to gather feedback on the impact of these options before any decisions are made.