Bath’s Royal National hospital for rheumatic diseases (RNHRD) is closing this weekend and its specialist neurological rehabilitation unit will be lost as a result. Cost-cutting is the main reason for the demise of the unit. The trust has agreed to merge with the larger Royal United hospital in Bath later this year but the RNHRD governors fear “the closure of the Bath service will deprive the whole south-west of a specialist high-intensity neuro-rehabilitation facility.” Brain Injury charity Headway says such closures are a nationwide threat while Professor Mike Barnes, a specialist in neurological rehabilitation says 3,000 beds for acute brain injury rehabilitation across the NHS and private providers is “grossly inadequate”. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/26/nhs-brain-injury-cuts-heartbreaking
