Who needs what? A new audit tool for measuring unmet need for community neurorehabilitation leaving an acute hospital setting

Abstract

Community neurorehabilitation should be available for all who need it. However, there is considerable variation in provision across the country. This paper outlines the development of an audit tool, the South Tees Community Neurorehabilitation Team Needs Assessment Tool (the SOTNNAT) to measure unmet need for community neurorehabilitation. It describes the use of this tool in measuring patient needs on leaving an acute hospital setting in an area with no community neurorehabilitation team. The audit considered the access of 89 patients to the rehabilitation professionals required, against three quality indicators. The results demonstrated 47% of patients were unable to access the professions they required, 77% were unable to access the interventions they required, and 86% had an unmet need for a community neurorehabilitation team. The SOTNNAT can be used to highlight unmet need to commissioners and calculate some of the financial costs of the absence of an appropriate service. The SOTNNAT is provided in the article appendix.