Patients in hospital in Nottingham will be provided with transport if they need to use the £105m pioneering National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) in Stanford-on-Soar to the south of the county. Managers at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust, which will operate the £105 million purpose-built facility around 18 miles away in Stanford on Soar, near East Leake, said that hospital transport would be available to those needing to be transferred.
Concerns had previously been raised by Nottingham's Keep Our NHS Public campaign group about closing services "in favour of much less accessible regional ones". For example Linden Lodge, a 25-bed unit for patients aged 16 and over with a wide range of neurological conditions, will relocate about 20 miles from Nottingham City Hospital to the NRC under the plans. So for patients living in inner-city areas it will mean they have to travel further for treatment.
However, a spokeswoman for NUH said both patients already at the department and those who need the treatment at NRC will be transferred via hospital transport. She said the facility would add an extra step for those leaving hospital.
