• Consultant led services expand with appointment of former Defence and Military Rehabilitation Centre
• Clinic focus on early rehabilitation for serious lower limb injuries.
• Referrals received from legal teams and Case Managers.

Pace Rehabilitation has further strengthened its Lower Limb Trauma Clinic with the appointment of senior professionals who have been involved in the rehabilitation of injured military personnel.

The clinic, which operates at its centres in Buckinghamshire and Cheshire, offers a consultant led approach to multidisciplinary rehabilitation for individuals who have sustained catastrophic lower limb injuries.

Dr Rhodri Phillip OBE qualified in 1995 and completed his specialist training in 2008. Up until May 2021 he was a serving army officer with a focus on trauma rehabilitation. He was the military clinical lead for trauma rehabilitation for 11 years and the Clinical Director of DMRC Headley Court and Stanford Hall, the military specialist rehabilitation centre, from 2018-2021. He was awarded the OBE for services to military casualties in 2020.

He joins Kate Sherman MBE who developed the physiotherapy services of the complex trauma service for military personnel returning from conflict, often with multiple and life-changing injuries. She also worked as the lead physiotherapist in the joint MOD/NHS evaluation of military transfemoral amputees considering osseointegration. She was awarded the MBE for services to military casualties in 2020.

In addition, Nicole Bennett spent more than seven years as the Lead Orthotist at DMRC Headley Court running the Ministry of Defence’s only orthotic service. As part of the complex trauma team, she was responsible for providing a world class rehabilitation service to injured members of HM Armed Forces.

These appointments mean Pace Rehabilitation, which is the UK’s largest independent provider of prosthetic rehabilitation, now has a team of four very experienced rehabilitation clinicians leading its specialist clinics.

Toby Carlsson, founding director and prosthetist at Pace Rehabilitation, said:

“Research proves that people who have sustained serious lower limb injuries who begin rehabilitation early achieve better clinical outcomes. Not just physically, but psychologically too, improving long term reintegration.

“It’s this proactive and tailored approach which members of our team have helped to deliver to Armed Forces personnel at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre. This approach is now being delivered to civilians who have sustained a serious lower limb trauma through our team at our clinics in Buckinghamshire and Cheshire.

“We also know that having an early focus on rehabilitation enables patients to acquire the strength, skills and mindset for an optimised outcome, even if ultimately, an amputation is considered the best solution.

“Our Lower Limb Trauma Clinic enables case managers, lawyers and funders to be fully informed of the recommended rehabilitation strategy.”  Adding, “Case managers can deliver fully-costed clinical recommendations with confidence to legal teams and insurers, as needed.”

The full Lower Limb Trauma Clinic includes consultants in rehabilitation medicine, orthotists and prosthetists, specialist physiotherapists, psychologists and occupational therapists.