In order to ensure equal access to rehabilitation care and foster the resilience of health systems throughout North West Europe a new 5 year project will be launched.
Scale-Up4Rehab will make an important step forward in the digitalization of the rehabilitation sector, being the first in building an open virtual rehabilitation ‘clinic’, through which existing virtual rehabilitation therapies will be scaled up. Five regional pilots (NL/DE/IR/BE/LU), which act as showcases, will be implemented in which rehabilitation professionals in various healthcare settings integrate virtual rehabilitation in their daily practice.
Remco Hoogendijk, Manager Projects & Innovation Sint Maartenskliniek (The Netherlands): “Access to rehabilitation is uneven both between and within countries. Technology offers the possibility to provide efficient care and access to dedicated rehabilitation care regardless of the location of a patient. Different forms of rehabilitation therapy using virtual technologies are already taking place. However, these digital applications merely are used in a local setting and economies of scale are not exploited. Transnational cooperation is needed to reach these economies of scale, bringing the digital transformation of the rehabilitation sector to a next level.”
Rehabilitation has an important role in improving the health and well-being of the population and the overall efficiency and sustainability of the health systems. The ageing of the population will increase the number of persons who need rehabilitation, while there is a shortage of healthcare staff.
Partners in realizing to ensure equal access to rehabilitation care and foster the resilience of health systems throughout North West Europe are:
Rehabilitation clinics and university medical centers:
Sint Maartenskliniek, Sint Mauritius Therapieklinik, Centre National de Rééducation Fonctionnelle et de Réadaptation, Roessingh Research and Development, University College Dublin, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Cork, Discipline of Physiotherapy, School of Clinical Therapies, Radboudumc Department of Rehabilitation, UniKlinik RWTH Aachen.
Universities, specialist in engineering and computer science research and development:
University of Lille, Tilburg University.
Innovation networks:
In4care, Health Valley Netherlands, Eurasanté.
Additionally, we will set-up a group of associated organisations, interested to follow the project, including: Teeside University, XR4Rehab collaboration network, EIT Health Belgium-Netherlands, Shift Medical.
Health Valley Netherlands
31 August 2023