STEPS Rehabilitation has told NR Times of its struggle to have a client tested for the deadly disease - which transpired to be positive - before they were released back to the facility.

The resident was admitted to hospital with symptoms of the deadly virus last month.

The hospital wanted to discharge him back to the centre, in Sheffield, less than 24 hours after admission on the basis that it was not in the client’s best interest to stay in hospital.

However, STEPS - a residential and day neuro-rehab facility - has told of its struggle to secure a COVID-19 test for the resident, despite the obvious risks presented to other clients and staff if they went undiagnosed.

Recent advances in neuroimaging and neuroscience mean we are now able to better understand how music and auditory stimulation are processed in the brain. To date, research has shown that nothing else stimulates so many areas of the brain simultaneously, as music. This makes it a particularly unique tool for rehabilitation as new neural networks can be built around areas damaged by disease or injury. This reinforces the strong evidence-base for using music to improve client outcomes, assist with rehabilitation and support adaptation to injury. It is this principle on which standardised clinical techniques within Neurologic Music Therapy have been researched and developed.

That is according to the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine, which has set out how the rehab field moves forward after current events. Its paper, Rehabilitation in the wake of Covid-19: A phoenix from the ashes, focuses on the anticipated increased demand for rehab post Covid-19. It explains: “Covid-19 has led to a pandemic that is increasing the burden of disease and disability throughout the world. It has brought many challenges and has caused major disruption to services. But we have also learned some new ways of doing things. As the NHS re-boots, there is an opportunity to rebuild services on a better, more collaborative, model.

They will support doctors, families, other clinicians and health service commissioners to ensure that everyone is aware of their legal and ethical responsibilities. The guidelines come from the Royal College of Physicians and are endorsed or supported by a further 15 health bodies. They offer updated guidance on the diagnosis, assessment, care and management of patients with PDOC.

Swedish scientists have succeeded in restoring mobility and sensation of touch in stroke-afflicted rats by reprogramming human skin cells to become nerve cells. The nerve cells were then transplanted into the part of the rat’s brain most often damaged by the stroke. Professor Zaal Kokaia of Lund University says: “Six months after the transplantation, we could see how the new cells had repaired the damage that a stroke had caused in the rats’ brains.”

During the crisis, community rehab teams are less able to do home visits, so to ensure patients continue to receive high quality support, the UCL Centre for Neurorehabilitation in London plans to deliver all stroke rehab remotely. The centre, which works alongside the UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), is being supported by funds from the brain injury charity Same You.

Staff at Mount Sinai Hospital have reported a sevenfold increase in incidence of sudden stroke in patients in their 30s and 40s over the last fortnight. Neurosurgeon Thomas Oxley told the press that he and his colleagues had seen some younger coronavirus patients with mild or no symptoms experiencing large-vessel strokes. The findings will be published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.