MOD to consider new Rehab Centre

The MoD is launching a study to assess proposals for a new centre of excellence in rehabilitation to ensure that the care of injured service personnel remains state-of-the-art for decades to come.

A private benefactor has generously agreed to fund a year-long feasibility study to establish costs and implications for a National Rehabilitation Centre that might be built in the Midlands in approximately 10 years time. The new national centre would improve even further on the current and planned facilities at the Defence Military Rehabilitation Centre, Headley Court. The study will explore the possibility of creating a facility which can be a truly national centre for excellence for both military and civilian rehabilitation, with a defence capability at its heart. Other Government Departments, the NHS and charities will all be consulted in the study process.

Decisions on whether to proceed with constructing a new centre will only be made upon completion of this study.

Veterans' Minister Kevan Jones said:

"Our injured personnel receive first rate treatment at Headley Court and our other rehabilitation facilities. It is a testament to the skill and professionalism of our medical staff that more and more personnel injured in conflict are now recovering to the extent that they can return to the front line.

"Our ongoing commitment to rehabilitation has been shown by continuing investment to improve facilities at Headley Court, and the generous contributions of charities such as Help for Heroes. This study into a possible new National Rehabilitation Centre with a defence facility at its core is a fantastic opportunity to assess how we can ensure that the quality of our rehabilitation services is maintained for years to come. We are very grateful for the private funding into this important study to benefit our injured personnel."

The Armed Forces' Surgeon General, Lieutenant General Louis Lillywhite, said:

"Our dedicated and skilled rehabilitation teams already provide a service for our injured personnel that is world class. We want to ensure that the rehabilitation we provide remains at the pinnacle of international best practice for years to come.

"Rehabilitation is a fast moving clinical discipline with technology and techniques constantly evolving. Owing to the success of our medical services, both military and civilian, personnel are surviving injuries that would have proved fatal just a few years ago, and their rehabilitation needs pose an ever increasing challenge but with ever improving outcomes. This study will assess whether the needs of our personnel would be even better met by a national centre drawing upon military and civilian expertise with a defence capability at its core."

The Midlands have been identified as the preferred setting for a new centre, which - like Headley Court - would be located in a suitable setting for physical and psychological rehabilitation. It would bring rehabilitation services closer to other key military medical facilities, such as the new military ward under construction at the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham due to open in June 2010. This builds on the successful partnership military medicine has enjoyed with the NHS in the treatment of our casualties at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham which also hosts the Royal Centre of Defence Medicine where our medical research and training is conducted. The Midlands, with its many transport links, would also be more accessible to patients and their families who come from across the UK.

Contacts:

Ministry of Defence

Email: [email protected]

Notes to editors:

1. The feasibility study into a Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre was announced to parliament today through a Written Ministerial Statement.

2. For more information contact Paul Leat in the MoD Press Office on 020 7218 7931 or visit the website www.mod.uk