This page records the site’s development as a timeline of major changes in the website. The items are copied from the home page, which only has the two most recent developments. They are here in reverse date order (most recent at the top).
November 9th 2022
Since my August 2nd update, I have undertaken many changes. I have started to upgrade the Academic Rehabilitation part, changing the training and expertise pages. I have changed the header and menu, which are better I hope. I have simplified the footer. I have published a few more blog posts. And, when you read this, you will see I have changed the home page
August 2nd 2022
I have added the last section to my part on “What is rehabilitation?” and the page concerns the outcome of rehabilitation. I discuss the high-level outcomes that service is likely to aim for based on a patient’s wishes. I emphasise that quality of life and social goals are usually the most relevant. I have also added two posts, presented in a slightly different style and, I think, written rather better thanks to Grammarly. The first is on the concept of Rehabilitation Potential and its validity. I conclude that it is not a valid concept because there is no evidence-based way to identify who will benefit from rehabilitation and, additionally, it is likely that everyone will benefit in some way. The second is all about frailty, and the link is above.
June 13th 2022
Today I added 12 new pages on the process of rehabilitation and removed 20 lower-quality old pages. I have also improved the menu, though I hope to improve it more soon. The delay follows my considerable workload as Deputy Secretary to the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (BSPRM). [Yes, the vote went against what I wanted, but the world has not ended and I am now also helping to set up a new BSPRM website.] I have also realised how poorly written many of my early pages were, and I hope to improve pages slowly. I have not published many blogs recently either. But my website apparently led Sky News to contact me as a “neurological rehabilitation expert” to comment on the rehabilitation of Justin Beiber’s right facial palsy. Anyone interested may watch a shortened version here.
March 10th 2022.
It is three months since I last wrote anything here! Unfortunately, I have been busy with matters relating to the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine. I became Deputy Secretary in November 2021, and I am also chair of the Society’s Communication Subcommittee. We are setting up a new website. However, over the last weeks, I have written eight pages, to replace many existing pages. My goal is to revise and improve the section describing rehabilitation. Look at ‘What is rehabilitation?’ and the pages after the front page. (here) There will be several further changes over the next few weeks.
December 12th, 2021
The more pages I publish, the more there are to review and improve! When I look back at my early pages and posts, I realise how poor many were. I am trying to bring them up to standard, slowly. The introductory pages to ‘Rehabilitation in the UK’ (here) and ‘Academic Rehabilitation’ (here) have been updated and improved. My latest blog was about an internal matter of the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine, a proposal to change its name, (here) but this will be the last post on that matter. The ballot opened on the 10th and closes on December 31st. I have also started using a software package called Grammarly which not only checks your spelling but looks at your grammar, writing style, clarity etc. I think it is improving my content and teaching me how to write better. I hope so.
November 27th, 2021
Further developments, slowly. But, first, some posts worth looking at (well, I would say that, wouldn’t I!). Anyone working with a trainee doctor as a colleague might like to read about how they are assessed at the end of their training, using a concept known as entrustment – here. I was disappointed that my blog post about the possible lack of holism in some areas of rehabilitation services and how it arises has generated little interest or disagreement; you can read it here. I continue to look at the wider practice of rehabilitation, being surprised by rehabilitation psychiatry. The NICE (National Institute of Health and Social Care Excellence) definition of rehabilitation psychiatry applies to all rehabilitation – here. I am now wondering where to move my attention to next! Any suggestions are welcome (use button at the bottom).
November 15th, 2021
Now over one year old, and it does feel like growing up. I have learned so much about setting up and running a website – and so much more about rehabilitation. Why, or how? Because a blog post gives one the opportunity to write and publish ideas without delays inherent in journal articles. My current focus is on developing rehabilitation in the UK. There are blogs concerned with the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine, and about different types of teamwork. (here) I have added a new category for blog posts – popular posts. (here) The pages on the site are reviewing the many areas of healthcare undertaking, or involved in rehabilitation. The BSRM could treble its size tomorrow if it put its mind to it, and recruited 10% of the doctors and other professions engaged in rehabilitation. We need a National Rehabilitation Community. (here)
November 1st, 2021
Another long gap! I have been considering, and starting on a section which I have entitled, ‘The National Rehabilitation Community‘. My thesis is that rehabilitation currently has little attention from the government, for example from the Department of Health and Social Care and little attention from top NHS management such as NHS England. This leads to two problems. The most important is the absence of any coherent framework for organising services, such that there is a patchwork with many gaps, but also duplication and wasted resources. The other is a relative lack of resources that are not proportionate to need. One solution is to bring together all interested parties into a community or alliance to raise the profile of rehabilitation and press for improvements as a large combined body of people and organisations. Read more here.
October 5th, 2021
A long gap. Been busy on other (rehabilitation) matters! I have now finished the seven generic and seven rehabilitation-specific capabilities that could be a basis for defining someone as a rehabilitation expert in their profession. I am checking them over. The outline of generic capabilities is here, and for rehabilitation capabilities, it is here. I am working on a blog post that gives an overview. The second “What do we add?” blog post has been published. Written by a brave person (Harriet Peel) it covers the unique roles of speech and language therapists in a rehabilitation team. (here) I hope that other professions and, maybe, other speech and language therapists will now feel brave enough to commit to writing what they add. I am also trying to foster and host a debate about the name of the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine. (here)
September 4th 2021
Relatively little over the last two weeks. Mainly catching up with other work after a holiday! Have published the fifth generic capability (here) and have started editing some earlier pages which were really not that good. There are more additions in the pipeline, including I hope a second ‘What do we add?’ which will consider what Speech and Language Therapists add to the rehabilitation team.
August 16th 2021
Some further changes. Two much-read blogs on whether a person with a prolonged disorder of consciousness experiences pain (here) and, a few days ago, advice on how to incorporate the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 into day-to-day clinical practice. (here) Thanks to a person who read my site, I have started a section on the experience of being in rehabilitation as seen by patients (and, I hope, families). It can be accessed through this page here. The first one is by David Wozny who has his own site (see his page here). I am continuing with generic rehabilitation Capabilities in Practice, having reached number four (out of seven). (here) I am reasonably pleased with the new look, though it can still be improved. I am also waiting for a brave soul to add to the ‘what do we add’ series (of one so far!) (here)
July 30th 2021.
A major change over last 3 days. I have changed the WordPress theme from 2015 (its name) to Astra which, I hope, will be a more flexible theme and allow a better website. Regular visitors will notice the different font (Garamond), the change in menu (now up top), possibly faster loading of pages (for people who think in microseconds), and I hope a better visual impact. I have also corrected a mess around the assessment section of ‘what is rehabilitation?’ where a page was missing and the menu was incorrect. It needs a bit more work as it repeats a bit. I have added what I think is an important blog post on whether patients who are unconscious after brain damage can feel pain (I conclude that they do no). I have added two generic capabilities.
July 22nd 2021
Another busy few weeks, but nonetheless some changes. Three popular blogs (see below), the one on goal attainment scaling seeming to have sparked great interest. Thank you Barbara Wilson for the invitation to join the debate. I have made a start on rehabilitation-specific generic capabilities here, and hope to finish them in about four weeks. So far, just an introduction and one capability. The News page has been slow, but re-activated this week.
July 3rd 2021
Been busy last month so relatively few changes. I have published the page on the UKROC database here, within the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine section, and added three posts on ‘do no harm’, relating to delayed best interests decision-making (here), the potential for Advanced Clinical Practitioners to gain officially recognised rehabilitation expertise (here), and the idea of entrustability as a way of assessing progress in learning (here). The number of News Items has been quite low, but if any reader knows of news that needs dissemination, let me know. I am planning a section on Generic Capabilities in Practice next, then perhaps goal-setting, and I hope to add more to the patient-public section.
June 5th 2021
Quite a few developments, though new content limited. I have added a page to the Compendium, listing many but not all of the MindMaps and drawings on the site, so that you can finding them quickly. (here) I have also added a section on Rehabilitation in the UK. (here) This now incorporates the BSRM webpages, which have been pruned, and will include (soon, I hope) information on documents for download from the BSRM website, and a whole section of the achievements of the UK Rehabilitation Outcome Collaborative (UKROC) which many rehabilitation teams have contributed to. It also draws attention to the Community Rehabilitation Alliance, a new organisation promoting community rehabilitation. (here)
May 26th 2021
Several changes since I last wrote. The last Capability in Practice, number 7, has been published here. I would appreciate feedback on any or all of them. (button available at the bottom of each page). They are not perfect, but I hope that they are useful and your comments could improve them (or change them). I have also reorganised and brought up-to-date the pages concerning medical training in Rehabilitation Medicine (here), with a new page covering the new, 2021 curriculum and all the guidance documents – which can be accessed on this site. (here) I have started to archive news pages, but they can still be seen here. Last, I posted a new post on Social Care and research into Social Care today. It points you towards useful resources if you are beginning or considering research in rehabilitation. (here)
May 15th 2021
I have re-organised my blogs so that there are now six categories, and all the blogs in a category can be seen on a page for that category. It means you can find one easily (I hope) and find others that relate to it. I have been exploring passwords and membership options (on behalf of the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine; my site is and will remain free without membership), but occasionally I have made mistakes, and some people may have had difficulty. I apologise. You can visit the revised blogs by going here. I continue to add news items.
May 9th 2021
Several major changes. Added the sixth and penultimate Capability in Practice, called ‘supporting team treatments’ but perhaps better phrased as ‘creating a rehabilitation environment around the patient’. You can see the reasoning and the capability here. There is also a new section, covering British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine (BSRM) matters. This includes BSRM news. (here) The section is only just developing and some people may have noticed difficulties accessing the site as I learned about passwords and protecting parts of the site. I am hoping that people interested in the BSRM website will answer a survey here. I am also trying to make posts more easily seen and found. I have added several categories. News items are updated several times each week. Blogs are published.
May 1st 2021
Added the fifth page in Capabilities in Practice Series. Available here. Doing background work to improve site’s value. If you have suggestions, use the page feedback form at the bottom. I have also published a blog on Humanities in Rehabilitation. (here) It argues for the importance of improving empathy in staff. Third, I have added a page in ‘Education and Training’ which has a feed from the Clinical Rehabilitation twitter account of all 1225 tweets since March 2018. More importantly it shows the most recent ones first. They almost all link to an article published that is directly relevant to rehabilitation. (here)
April 25th 2021
Added the fourth page in the Capabilities in Practice Series (will be seven in total). Available here. I have started a News page. News is what is new to me, and it relates directly or indirectly to rehabilitation. Visit it here to see what is covered. I recently added added a blog on the rehabilitation curriculum’s progress; it is nearly finished; see here.
April 15th 2021
Added the third page in the series of Capabilities in Practice, as they apply to professionals wishing to develop expertise in rehabilitation. Available here. added a few more categories to the blogs, and a blog for a survey on the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine’s website (see blogs below). Also started a news page. See menu, or click here.
April 4th 2021
Added second page in the series of Capabilities in Practice, as they apply to being expert in rehabilitation. Available here. Also added a long blog, again considering how to improve rehabilitation services in the UK, utilising the (justified) priority being given to problems arising after Covid-19. (See immediately below) Changing the bottom of each page to include two comment buttons. Had my first comment in the last week. No-one has yet identified the specific contribution of their profession – please do. (Here)
March 28th 2021
Added the first page of a series (more to come soon) on Capabilities in Practice that could be used to define any professional as have rehabilitation expertise. (here. it is an update of a much earlier version.) Also joined Twitter. Name is RehabilitationMatters but twitter handle is @rehabil11484543 (not easily remembered!)
March 21st 2021
Updated the page on Training in Rehabilitation Medicine (here), with several additional new attached documents outlining the training programme and syllabus. Also added a subsidiary page that says why I think rehabilitation is such a long-term satisfying career and speciality for a doctor. (here)
March 16th 2021
Added a page on undertaking planning in rehabilitation here. Also started a new category of blog about what unique contributions to the rehabilitation team different professions make. There is one on doctors here. And there is one about how you can send me something to say what your profession’s strengths within the multi-professional team are, here.
March 6th 2021
Revised and expanded section on the process from patent presentation to rehabilitation planning, including completely new page on formulation. Also the compendium of terms is growing.
February 26th 2021
Completely revised section on what rehabilitation is, adding a page discussing historical development of rehabilitation and how it explains current situation. Also improved layout and content.