Featuring innovation in brain injury recovery on this World Stroke Day

After Emilia shared her story, thousands of people from around the world told us about the challenges they experienced during brain injury recovery, revealing a huge unmet need.

Many also told us about the incredible nursing teams, health care and rehabilitation staff while they were in hospital but compared the experience of returning home the same as falling off a cliff, in terms of recovery care.

At the very core of SameYou's mission is increasing access to brain injury rehabilitation services and piloting innovations that bring immediate benefits to brain injury survivors and their families.

On this World Stroke Day, we are excited to share an innovative project that we helped to fund in 2020, which we believe more professionals and survivors could benefit from if implemented in their communities.

We would like to invite you to add your name to the form below to help SameYou expand access to this rehabilitation service. By doing so, you'll help enable more health professionals to deliver - and more survivors to receive - the cognitive and physical support needed for continued recovery once a patient returns home.

A catalyst for change

When the Covid pandemic happened, many survivors were being discharged from acute care prematurely to free up bed spaces and access to rehabilitation became even more of a challenge.

Aware of the importance of rehabilitation for survivors, SameYou began to work with University College London to develop a pioneering one-to-many real time rehabilitation programme called Neurorehabilitation Online (NROL).

The purpose of the pilot project was to ensure that patients and their families could receive essential aftercare remotely. The pilot project lasted 6 months and demonstrated that behaviour change for therapists and patients could, with minimal on costs, increase productivity of the workforce and benefit life-changing results.

SameYou then funded a 2-year proof of concept with the NHS in Lancashire and South Cumbria and this one-to-many real-time online service was commissioned by the Lancashire ICB. In September 2024, NROL has been shortlisted for The Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) Award in the Digital Practice category.

Key components of NROL

NROL is made up of ten components including physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, support for cognitive issues, learning to live independently again, and a "café" group for support and discussion.

This model enables productivity gains, helps reduce waiting times and delivers outstanding outcomes which have been recorded, documented and supported by multiple lived experience testimonials. The charity’s aim is to find ways for NROL to be commissioned throughout the UK and further afield.

Overview of NROL

Benefits of NROL

• Online real-time rehabilitation: it saves time, travel and energy
• Access to technology assistance and upskills a patient’s tech ability
• Peer support: the group format adds value and allows for shared experiences, vicarious learning and improved confidence
• Multidisciplinary targeted therapy
• Complements existing therapy: it provides an extra layer of therapy
• Enables positive interaction with staff but also offers professional development and networking opportunities for staff

Patient testimonial

In the following video, Noelene talks about her experience of NROL