Countess of Chester Hospital is hosting a new online neurotherapy service

Stroke patients receiving neurotherapy care from the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust can now access therapy sessions from the comfort of their own homes thanks to a new online neurorehabilitation service.

The NROL (Neuro Rehabilitation Online) project, which went live in September, offers a rehabilitation programme to stroke patients via real-time group sessions that are led by experienced NHS therapists from hospital trusts across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Delivered virtually on Microsoft Teams, the sessions focus on different areas of therapy, including physical and cognitive rehabilitation, talking therapy and community support, with each one designed to improve patients' understanding of how the brain and body work, boost their confidence and provide guidance on manging their symptoms.

The aim of the service, which has been funded by the Stroke Quality Improvement for Rehabilitation tea, (SQUIRE) is to increase access to neurorehabilitation by offering more opportunities to supervised therapy and additional support in a convenient, real-time format. 

NROL is available to all stroke patients currently undergoing therapy at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (CWP) Trust and other trusts in Cheshire and Merseyside, with their therapists, encouraged to refer their patients to the project to help increase the frequency and intensity of their rehabilitation. This ensures they receive the ongoing support they need for recovery.

Ruth Hatcher, one of the Rehab leads for the Cheshire and Mersey Integrated Stroke Delivery Network, said:

"We are extremely grateful to SQUIRE for awarding funding to Cheshire and Merseyside to trial this project.

 "It is vitally important that patients have many different opportunities to access rehabilitation and the feedback from patients has been overwhelmingly positive. We hope that the project goes from strength to strength."

NROL will run until September 2025 as part of a stroke quality improvement initiative.

The service is a collaboration between the Countess of Chester Hospital and other NHS trusts in Cheshire and Merseyside.

Pictured - Rosie Mason, NROL Senior Clerical Officer, Amy Bastow, NROL Project Lead and Matty Rain, Digital Support Officer.