When it first opened its doors in March 2020, the Inspire Neurocare team had no idea about the following year’s challenges. As the rest of the UK went into lockdown, Inspire Neurocare was faced with the task of launching a high-quality complex care service whilst also ensuring the safety and wellbeing of people living with significant underlying health issues and its new staff team.
Sixteen months on, the service – a finalist for Complex Care Provider of the Year in the Health Investor Awards 2021 – reflects on its approach and plans for the future.
Over the last year, Inspire Neurocare Worcester successfully provided care for individuals living with complex neurological needs, and the team continues to welcome new residents as the service enters its second year of operation.
The 43-bed service, which includes an independent living apartment, is characterised by contemporary décor and open plan living. Taking every care to ensure accessibility, assistive technology and the ability to make personal choices was built into the design. Pull-down cabinets and adjustable height kitchen worktops, large, spacious therapy bathrooms with hoists and wide corridors and doorways throughout the service allow people to maintain and develop independence.
Ensuite bedrooms are over twice the usual size in such services. Each is fully soundproofed and has independently controlled underfloor heating, so people can set up their living space just as they would in their own home.
Service manager Marc Russell said: “At Inspire, we place no limits on what people can achieve – the team never define people by their age or diagnosis. Over the last year, we supported many individuals to achieve life-changing outcomes, despite the challenges of COVID-19.
“From the beginning of the pandemic, ahead of Government lockdown, we proactively engaged with care commissioners and national regulatory bodies to ensure we could safely welcome residents to our new service. Our Enhanced Infection Control Pledge, increased protocols and continued commitment to protecting the people we support meant that we were the first choice for individuals and families requiring quality complex care in the Midlands.”
Innovating for independence following a brain haemorrhage
Jay, aged 74, came to Inspire for a period of rehabilitation following a subarachnoid haemorrhage, further complicated by hydrocephalus in late 2020.
On arrival into the service, Jay was experiencing problems with her balance, had slight left side weakness and found mobilising very difficult. She was unable to stand without support from the team members and a walking frame.
The team worked with Jay and her family to create a rehabilitation plan to increase her independence. With physiotherapy focusing on restoring Jay’s balance and increasing her confidence, she can now walk independently using a frame.
Life Skills Facilitators also worked with Jay under the direction of the therapy team, using an innovative mobile app called Clock Yourself to improve her balance and mobility and increase her confidence outside of the physiotherapy gym.
Jay is continuing to work with the therapy team as discharge planning gets underway.
“I’m thankful that I’m still alive – it’s down to the wonderful surgeons, and of course, the rehabilitation at Inspire, which has been fantastic.
When I came here, I was on my back. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t sit up, couldn’t do anything. And here I am now – walking with my frame. The progress has been fantastic. The staff here are wonderful, so patient, and so caring. Those who saw me when I first came in – they say, what a transformation!
I’m being taken home by the Occupational Therapist next week for a visit to make sure everything is in place for when I return home and if there are any other exercises I need to do because I want to live on my own. I want to be strong enough, and well enough and capable of continuing to look after myself, hopefully for another decade at least!”
Developing an outstanding team
Director of Clinical Excellence, Michelle Kudhail and Service Manager Marc Russell welcomed outstanding colleagues to the team over the last year, including Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, Dr Damon Hoad. Dr Hoad brings a wealth of experience in neurological rehabilitation to Inspire Neurocare, working for the service in addition to his roles within the NHS and Warwick University.
Neuropsychologist Dr Victoria Baxter is joined in the interdisciplinary team by a neuro physiotherapist, a neuro occupational therapist and a speech & language therapist. The Clinical Lead manages Inspire’s nurses, who are trained to very high clinical standards. Specialist nurses ensure that the service can meet patients’ very complex care needs, from ventilated care and tracheostomy management, seizure management, and peg nutrition to bowel management and catheterisation.
Life Skills Facilitators
Inspire Neurocare empowers its team members to excel, and with the Life Skills Facilitator (LSF) role is revolutionising the neurorehabilitation sector with an innovation that leads to outstanding patient outcomes.
Enabling each person they support, LSFs increase people’s capacity without limiting them. Under the guidance of clinicians and therapists, they administer medicine, carry out exercise and mobility programmes, sensory activities, orientation and memory tasks with communication aids and interactive equipment.
LSFs facilitate daily tasks such as showering and choosing clothes, making a drink or meal, and taking an interest in people’s lives, supporting them to continue or develop hobbies or social activities as much as possible.
Their unique position sees Life Skills Facilitators working across nursing care, therapy, and wellbeing, allowing them to take a genuinely universal place in the lives of the people they support. Their work supporting occupational, physical, and speech and language therapy means therapeutic interventions are no longer confined to the gym or to a particular session with a therapist.
With the individual’s therapeutic goals and desired outcomes in mind every step of the way, Life Skills Facilitators amplify the rehabilitation process, facilitating and enabling daily living activities that increase people’s independence, functional abilities, and confidence through every interaction, every day. Inspire Neurocare sees people achieve their rehabilitation goals more quickly through this continuous focus on reablement and independence.
Expanding with confidence
Close partnership working with care commissioners influenced every element of Inspire Neurocare Worcester, from design and build to service development. This commitment to work in close collaboration with commissioners and stakeholders continues post-launch in Worcester and is ongoing in other parts of the country, with new developments coming soon to Basingstoke and Southampton.
Work on these two new state-of-the-art services starts on-site in late 2021 and early 2022, intending to welcome residents from 2023.
Reflecting on the year, Director of Clinical Excellence Michelle Kudhail said: “In an unprecedented year, Inspire Neurocare has thrived against the odds. After opening our first service amidst the challenges of the first wave of COVID-19, we have now firmly established ourselves as a leading provider of quality complex care and rehabilitation for adults.
“The planned Inspire Neurocare services for Southampton and Basingstoke will allow us to achieve more for many individuals, in hopefully far less challenging circumstances for launch, and we are exploring options around the use of innovative technology to enhance therapy provision and increase intensity of practice to supplement what we already offer.
“The future looks bright for Inspire, and I’m incredibly proud of the team for everything we have so far achieved together.”
