Rehabilitation Services
Regional Posture and Mobility Service
A collection of services whose primary function is to work in conjunction with local wheelchair services, rehabilitation units and regional specialist services.
About our service
The Regional Posture and Mobility Service (RPMS) is a collection of services whose primary function is to work in conjunction with local wheelchair services, rehabilitation units and regional specialist services. It is also part of the Rehabilitation, Equipment and Technology Clinical Business Unit (RET CBU) . We see clients on behalf of, and in partnership with, the Local Wheelchair Services from across the West Midlands region. We work with the Local Wheelchair Services and other health care professionals to provide holistic assessments of a client’s postural and wheeled mobility needs. You will be seen by a multi-disciplinary team in order to ensure your needs are best met through a holistic approach to the assessment.
Our Team consists of the following professionals:
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Specialist Rehabilitation Engineers
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Specialist Occupational Therapists
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Specialist Physiotherapists
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Consultants in Rehabilitation Medicine
We also work alongside, and can refer to further specialist professionals, including:
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Speech and Language Therapists
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Orthotists
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Therapists and Nursing staff in Spasticity management, ITB, MS, Neuromuscular conditions and Young Adults clinics
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Access to Communication and Technology Service
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Inpatient Rehabilitation units
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Counselling Services
Services we Offer
- Complex Postural Assessment - Assessment of posture and seating needs as part of a 24 Hour Postural Management regime with a Specialist Rehabilitation Engineer and Specialist Therapist. This can include casting for moulded chairs or assessment of pressure management if required.
- Complex Postural and Medical Assessment - Clinic with a Specialist Rehabilitation Engineer, Specialist Therapist and Rehabilitation Consultants who can provide advice with regards to medical management of the client’s condition in order to enable improvements to posture, mobility and/ or function.
- Powered Wheelchair Assessment - Clinic with Specialist Rehabilitation Engineer, Specialist Therapist and Rehabilitation Consultant to medically and practically assess a client’s ability to drive a powered wheelchair within NHS prescription guidelines.
- Special Controls - Assessment of special powered wheelchair controls with Specialist Rehabilitation Engineer and Specialist Therapist to enable a client’s independent mobility.
- Rehabilitation Assessment and Provision Service (RAPs) - The Rehabilitation Assessment and Provision Service works with the Rehabilitation units to assess for and loan manual or powered chair equipment as part of early Rehabilitation post neurological injury (referrals made by inpatient Therapy team).
- Moulded Toilet/ Shower Chairs - Assessment and casting for moulded shower chairs.
- Other - Working in partnership with the Local Wheelchair Services, we can also provide a second opinion on wheelchairs and associated equipment/ accessories which has been recommended or provided.
Where we Work
Our clinic base is at the West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre and this is where the majority of assessment and follow up appointments take place. At our referrals meeting, the team may decide a home visit (domiciliary visit) to better meet the needs of that specific client and, in this case, the team will arrange to visit the client at their home address or another address of relevance, e.g. Day Centre or School.
The Rehabilitation Assessment and Provision Service (RAPS) supports the inpatient units across the region. We run regular external clinics at Central England Rehabilitation Unit (Royal Leamington Spa Hospital), Moseley Hall Hospital and the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital for clients referred to the Regional Posture and Mobility Service by the Inpatient Therapy teams.
We also run regular external clinics with some of the Wheelchair Services in the region. Locations include Hereford, Coventry and Birmingham.
Continuing Professional Development
All our clinical staff must continue their education and development in order to maintain their professional registration and to maintain knowledge of best practice. Our team attend and facilitate various training events.
Rehabilitation Engineers Training and Development
We support the continual succession of qualified staff to local and regional services from Rehabilitation Engineer trainees to clinicians who specialise in seating/ controls and even wheelchair service managers.
Audit
We participate in clinical audit to ensure that we are maintaining clinical standards, adhering to guidance, and learning lessons to improve our practice.
Projects
We work with the West Midlands project engineering steering group providing guidance and support. This project engineer post is funded by the West Midlands Wheelchair Managers group who can ask for research projects, simple literature searches, guidance on certain areas of provision and to maintain websites.
Feedback
We participate in the Trust ‘Friends and Family Test Patient Experience Feedback’ cards and aim to give these out regularly to our Service users in order to gain important feedback about the service we provide.