Treating stroke: home or hospital?

The view is that if myself to suffer a stroke I should prefer to be in a stroke rehabilitation unit, and it is at least arguable that the demands arise not from the units but from the needs of the severely disabled patients, who require a great deal of care wherever they are located.

Abstract

11 November, p 1321) rightly draw attention to the need to evaluate claims for the effectiveness of stroke rehabilitation in hospital.However, I would challenge their statement that stroke rehabilitation units "make great demands on the health service in both money and staff."It is at least arguable that the demands arise not from the units but from the needs of the severely disabled patients, who require a great deal of care wherever they are located.Indeed, these needs may well be met more economically and more effectively when the patients are grouped in a unit dedicated to multidisciplinary rehabilitation than when they are scattered throughout the hospital.The 30-bedded stroke rehabilitation ward at Lightburn Hospital, Glasgow, obtained good results' in the rehabilitation of severely disabled stroke patients with no more medical and nursing staff than in the geriatric wards of the hospital and with the part-time services of only two physiotherapists, one occupational