Health Innovation East Midlands (HIEM) has supported Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT) to adopt an innovative digital technology that improves the assessment and rehabilitation of stroke patients.

Stroke affects more than 100,000 people each year in the UK, with around a third of survivors experiencing long-term disability. This figure is projected to rise to 150,000 new cases annually by 2035 (King et al., 2020), placing increasing pressure on services to deliver timely, standardised care in line with national guidelines.

Through support from HIEM, NUH & NHFT have adopted RehAtt DiSTRO by Brain Stimulation AB, a digital screening tool designed to improve the assessment of cognitive and spatial inattention following stroke. The technology provides a more efficient, integrated and standardised approach to screening, helping clinicians improve accuracy, productivity and continuity of care across both hospital and community settings.

The deployment follows support from HIEM through its productivity enabling fund, which helps health and care organisations across the East Midlands to adopt proven innovations. The productivity enabling fund has also supported the deployment of two other projects across East Midlands health and care organisations.

The introduction of DiSTRO aligns with the ambitions set out in the NHS 10-Year Health Plan to accelerate the shift from analogue to digital services. By replacing paper-based assessments with digital screening, clinicians can undertake timely and effective assessments across the stroke pathway. The technology also supports more consistent identification of impairments, enabling targeted and personalised interventions.

The NUH team has already reported a reduction in the time required to complete screening assessments, releasing valuable clinical time to deliver interventions. The ability to complete multiple screens digitally has also increased screening frequency, particularly for spatial inattention assessments. Automated interpretation of results reduces subjectivity and provides clinicians with the ability to share visual feedback with patients and their families.

As DiSTRO has been implemented across both acute and community stroke services, screening results can be shared across the pathway, supporting continuity of care, intervention planning and the measurement of patient progress.

Philip Stimpson, Senior Innovation Lead at Health Innovation East Midlands, said:

"I'm delighted to see RehAtt DiSTRO now being used within Nottingham & Nottinghamshire’s stroke pathway. Supporting the NHS shift from analogue to digital is a key priority, and the introduction of this technology is already helping clinical teams work more efficiently while improving the consistency of assessments and patient care. It is a great example of how proven innovation can support productivity, enhance clinical decision-making, and ultimately improve outcomes for patients recovering from stroke."

Rowena Padamsey, Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist for Stroke Services at NUH, said:

"The combination of digitalised cognitive and spatial inattention screening enables timely and effective assessment, reducing the burden of assessments for the patient whilst making sure our interpretation of the results is accurate. This supports more consistent identification of impairments and allows for targeted, individualised interventions for the patient."

Following the implementation, the NUH team has already reported reduced screening times, increased screening frequency and improved continuity of care across both acute and community stroke services.”

Rowena added: “We hope this is just the beginning of our journey towards the use of technology and digitally-enriched rehabilitation!”

Find out more about our productivity innovation fund here.