NRH Strategic Partnership

Ability Matters have been chosen as the strategic partner of the NRH in the national provision of a prosthetic and orthotic service. This is a consultant led service which places the patient at the centre of its multi-disciplinary team, utilising expertise from many different professions.

A key feature of the approach of Ability Matters is the use of high definition video conferencing, which enables the rehabilitation consultant in the NRH to review patients in Ability Matters clinics from the NRH base in Dun Laoghaire.

This allows standards to be set centrally whilst maximising services in the community, delivering care that is as local as possible and as specialised as necessary.

Patients of the NRH will have access to prosthetics & orthotics, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology, dietetics and social services. The aim being to provide a service which meets the patient's changing needs during their rehabilitation.  This ensures a customised approach for the individual, maximising the benefit of their stay and planning for their discharge.

Following discharge patients are reviewed by the Consultant and Prosthetist to assess progress and monitor any change in the patient's needs. This takes place not just at the NRH but at satellite clinics throughout Ireland.

Ability Matters’ role within the partnership is to provide both upper and lower limb prosthetics and an orthotic service. Basing four clinicians at the NRH, one in Blanchardstown (Dublin) and one in Waterford, the network is expanding to provide the national service the country requires.

Speaking at the official opening of Ability Matters’ Waterford Clinic, Máire Hoctor, TD, and Minister for Older People acknowledged the efforts of both the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in Dun Laoghaire and Ability Matters in bringing the clinic to fruition.

“This kind of strategic vision and partnership is to be admired” said the Minister.

The Ability Matters clinics are staffed and equipped to provide a wide range of rehabilitative services, including prosthetic, orthotics, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and treatment for sports injury. Occupational therapy home assessment and advice on aids for daily living are also provided.

The Minister said that “the availability of this expertise locally, in the community, will reduce some of the stress for those who already face challenges to their physical and mental well-being. I wish the Ability Matters Clinic, and all those associated with it, every success for the future.”