Robotic therapy helps patients walk at rehab centre

Nic Marsden has been using robotic technology at the National Rehabilitation Centre

A new £105m NHS rehabilitation facility has started using robotic technology to help patients learn to walk again.

The National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) at Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire, which opened on 2 September, was created to help people with life-changing illnesses or injuries achieve the best recovery possible.

Brandon Wright, 22, and Nic Marsden, 29, who have both been undergoing treatment at the centre, said the equipment had helped them to get back on their feet.

Ali Wildt, innovation lead at the NRC, said the latest technology "really allows us to challenge our patients much earlier in their rehab".

The NRC, which is operated by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), aims to provide intense rehabilitation support to trauma patients earlier in their recovery journey.

Patients are given a combination of physical rehabilitation and psychological support during their stay, which will typically range from two weeks to three months.

Brandon Wright suffered serious injuries in a motorbike crash

Wright, from Lincoln, suffered a brain injury, multiple injuries to his body and short-term memory loss after his motorbike crashed on the track side during a race in Wales.

"I missed the park bench, I missed the tree, hit some bales and then fell off my bike," he said.

"About 100 [mph] to zero in a split second.

"I was pronounced dead at the scene because my lungs collapsed and everything, so I'm lucky to be as I am and how I am."

Brandon Wright has been receiving treatment at the centre

The semi-professional motorcyclist arrived at the NRC three weeks ago and has had treatment personalised to his needs, with sensors fitted to his feet to analyse how he walks.

"[The specialists] help me so much, they want the same goals as I want and that's to get back to my normal self," he said.

Wright said he hopes to leave the centre next week, with the aim of getting back on the track.

"Deep down I do want to get back on my bike. My mum says no, but as a biker, I want to get back on my bike," he added.

"Long-term, the goal is to be myself and get racing again really - as daft as it sounds."

Nic Marsden said the technology at the centre has "enabled me to get back on my feet"

Marsden, from Eastwood in Nottinghamshire, was diagnosed with myositis - a rare condition that causes chronic inflammation and weakness in the skeletal muscles - and lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease.

She arrived at the NRC unable to walk and has been undergoing intensive physio with the help of a robotic 360-degree hoist.

"When I first came into hospital I was completely bed-bound," she said.

"I thought, 'This is going to be my life forever'.

"Since being in rehab, the technology has enabled me to get back on my feet again, something I thought [I was] never going to do.

"I'm so proud of myself, my family are so proud of me and everyone I know is so proud of me."

Marsden added that with improvements to her mobility, she hopes to be home for Christmas.

Wildt said: "We're using loads of different equipment, some robotic technologies, as well as some sensor-based technologies.

"They allow us to get our patients working really hard, much earlier in their rehab.

"They get to do repetition after repetition, which is where we know we need to keep practising.

"That's how our brain adapts, that's how we learn, that's how we relearn after we've had a significant injury," she added.

Health bosses want the state-of-the-art 70-bed facility, which has been 15 years in the making, to be the blueprint for the way care is delivered across the NHS.

The NRC shares its facilities with the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), based at the same 365-acre (147-hectare) site.

It will receive patients from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Rutland, with many of them anticipated to come through the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre based at NUH.

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