East Staffordshire Community Stroke Rehabilitation Team

Professional Support

An initial assessment will be completed once you are discharged from hospital which will identify which professions are required for ongoing intervention. As an NHS Trust that supports and facilitates education, there may be a variety of allied health care students present in your visits.

Physiotherapy

A member of the Physiotherapy team may assess your current physical abilities and work with you on a programme to enable you to achieve your maximum physical potential. This will include exercise, support and advice on self-management specific to your individual needs.

Occupational Therapy

Our Occupational Therapists may assess your everyday tasks and develop a programme to promote further independence. This can be independence within your own home, extend to hobbies, returning to work, and driving. They will also assess and monitor whether the stroke has affected your memory, concentration, mood, or whether you are experiencing visual changes.

Their input may include advice around alternative strategies and techniques to complete tasks, practising daily activities in your own home, equipment provision, and larger adaptations to your environment if required.

Speech and Language Therapy

A stroke can lead to problems affecting your voice, speech, understanding, spoken communication, reading, and writing. The Speech and Language therapist will assess these, help you understand these changes and work towards your goals.

A stroke can also cause eating, drinking, and swallowing difficulties (known as dysphagia). This may be assessed and appropriate advice will be given to help you eat and drink as safely as possible. This may include practical advice about modified diet and fluid textures, or the need for alternative feeding.

Nursing

It is important to enable individuals affected by stroke to understand what has happened to them. Specialist Stroke Nurses can:

• explain physiological damage from stroke, risk factors, medication, and secondary prevention
• facilitate rehabilitation, reinforcing, and explain information and offer advice
• provide expert information and share knowledge about recovery and neuroplasticity
• encourage long-term lifestyle changes by providing individual guidance and advice
• support a return to roles and responsibilities, including implementing phased return to work

Experienced Rehabilitation Assistants

Our Rehabilitation Assistants support the therapy team and will help carry out your individualised therapy programme after your initial assessments. They will play a role in maintaining your rehabilitation and ensuring that the therapy remains patient-centred.

How long will we be involved?

Our input is goal-orientated, therefore patients will remain under our services for as long as they have both agreed and achievable rehabilitation goals. The amount of input from each discipline will vary depending on individual needs.