University Hospitals Dorset: Pioneering the NHS rehab robotics revolution

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dr Louise Johnson and Karen Smith from University Hospitals Dorset in a three-part series for the Stroke Rehab Times.

In these articles, we are focusing on the UHD charity’s award-winning fundraising campaign in 2020 to purchase a Hocoma Lokomat for the Acute Stroke Unit at Royal Bournemouth Hospital. The Lokomat is a state-of-the-art electromechanical gait trainer, helping stroke patients learn how to walk again.

“We should be looking at how we can enhance rehabilitation with robotics, and deliver rehabilitation that is enabled by technology as much as possible.”

The charity recently celebrated the one year anniversary since the Lokomat was installed, and part one of this three-part series discusses the need for technology within an NHS Acute Stroke Unit.

“The acute stroke service at University Hospitals Dorset is one of the biggest outside of London. We see patients right through the early part of the pathway, so we have a hyper acute for people when they’re initially admitted to hospital and then we provide acute care and inpatient rehabilitation. We also have an early supported discharge team, so a community team provides intensive rehabilitation when people are first discharged home. This service is for up to six weeks.

We admit around 1200 people every year with a stroke, so we have quite high numbers of people admitted through our services and obviously a high proportion of those will present with problems with mobility. The numbers of people admitted every year is going up, and the general pattern that we are also seeing more younger people with stroke.”

Click here to read part one: “pioneering the NHS rehab revolution with robotics”.

Keep your eyes peeled for parts two and three which will discuss the charity’s award-winning fundraising campaign and how the Lokomat is making a difference to patients one year on.

About the Lokomat

The Lokomat is a robotic-assisted therapy device for highly intensive physiological gait rehabilitation for severely impaired patients.

The Lokomat uses an individually adjustable exoskeleton combined with dynamic body weight support, with adjustable hip and knee joint angles to tailor the device to a patient’s specific needs during training. Customisable and versatile, the Lokomat can train a wide range of patients to develop a healthy physiological gait pattern – even those with severe disabilities.

The Lokomat allows therapists to focus on delivering high-quality therapy for patients, rather than be limited by the strain of traditional gait therapy. It enhances staff efficiency and safety, which leads to higher training intensity, more treatments per therapist, and consistent, superior patient care.

The Lokomat was developed by Swiss rehabilitation technology company Hocoma, and is supplied in the UK by Summit Medical and Scientific.

Contact us

Get in touch with Summit Medical and Scientific today to find out more about incorporating state-of-the-art rehabilitation technology into your practice. Contact us via email at info@summitmedsci.co.uk or call 01372 3459863.

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