"Five people pose outside the entrance of Stoke Mandeville Private Rehabilitation Hospital for a groundbreaking photo. Two men in wheelchairs sit at the front, one holding a ceremonial shovel, flanked by two men and a woman standing behind them in business attire. Two pull-up banners either side of the doorway read 'Active Neuro, transformative rehabilitation' and 'Stoke Mandeville Private Rehabilitation Hospital, Opening Summer 2027,' with the Active Care Group logo at the bottom

Active Care Group to open high-tech neuro rehabilitation hospital at Stoke Mandeville Stadium

Complex care provider Active Care Group has announced plans to build a 52-bed rehabilitation hospital in Stoke Mandeville.

The Active Neuro Stoke Mandeville Private Rehabilitation Hospital is set to open in the summer of 2027 and will treat around 250 patients per year.

It will be located next to Stoke Mandeville’s National Spinal Injuries Centre on an existing site at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, known as the birthplace of Paralympic movement.

The new hospital will feature specialist spaces for robotic gait and arm training, virtual-reality and augmented-reality therapy and neuromuscular stimulation.

A ventilated high-dependency unit (HDU) will support patients with complex respiratory and medical needs, and a specialist hydrotherapy pool will be designed to facilitate accessible, patient-centred rehabilitation for patients with spinal injuries and clients with disabilities.

A cinema room, family accommodation and a research conference hub, were also announced in the proposals released earlier this month.

Keith Browner, CEO of Active Care Group, said: “The new Active Neuro Stoke Mandeville Private Rehabilitation Hospital is a landmark investment in the future of specialist spinal and neurological rehabilitation. It will offer a gold standard in rehabilitation care, bringing together world-class specialists and facilities with advanced rehabilitation technologies and techniques that are rarely available together in one rehabilitation setting.

“This investment reflects our long-term commitment to transforming outcomes for people recovering from life-changing injuries, ensuring they can access the very best rehabilitation care to make the fullest possible recovery.”

WheelPower, Active Care Group’s charity partner and owner of Stoke Mandeville Stadium, arranged for former Paralympic wheelchair Rugby captain Steve Brown (pictured right) to appear at the hospital’s launch event.

Brown, who also works as a TV presenter, used Stoke Mandeville’s spinal recovery facilities to kickstart his rehabilitation from a life-changing one-storey fall.

Rob Wilson, Chairman of WheelPower, said: “I am delighted that we are able to bring rehabilitation services back to our site. It is something that we set out in our five-year strategic plan as it will make such a difference – particularly as we know that a spinal cord injury can have such a profound impact on every part of a person’s life, affecting mobility, independence, confidence and overall quality of life.

“Rehabilitation services, coupled with an established route into sport, can make a profound difference to the thousands of people each year who experience life-changing spinal injuries and need access to specialist, ongoing services to help them recover and rebuild their lives. We will now have all these important services on one site.”