PROPOSALS have been announced for a £400,000 stroke rehabilitation unit to be built at Vale Community Hospital.

The Dursley hospital is the preferred location for the new unit, designed to meet national recommendations for stroke rehabilitation.

NHS Gloucestershire’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are seeking to address a gap in provision of stroke care in Gloucestershire.

Clinical lead at the CCG, Debbie Gray said: “Our ambition is to develop a centre of excellence approach to community specialist stroke rehabilitation.

“We believe this proposal would improve levels of recovery and independence.”

Those who suffer a stroke in Gloucestershire are treated at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital (GRH), with patients who are unable to have rehabilitation in their home remaining there for treatment.

The plans are designed to reduce pressure on beds at GRH and allow staff to focus their time on caring for seriously unwell patients.

Doctors and managers carried out an appraisal with their preferred option the creation of a Stroke Rehabilitation Unit. Vale Hospital was chosen as the preferred location following a further review.

Head of adult physiotherapy at Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust, Sarah Morton said: “If patients receive intensive rehabilitation support in the weeks after a stroke it is clear that we can make a real difference to people’s lives across Gloucestershire.

“By locating the service on a single site, specialist staff and skills would be brought together in one place and it would reduce the amount of hours lost travelling to multiple locations.”

The new unit will consist of 14 beds. Extra physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, dietetics, psychology and social work staff will work in the unit.

The CCG have said they will invest £488,000 into the project to fund these new jobs.

If the proposal is approved the unit will open in Autumn 2018.

Feedback is currently being collected and people have until July 31 to share their views.

For more information on the proposals visit gloucestershireccg.nhs.uk/stroke-rehab.