Our team consists of a range of healthcare scientist professionals including:
All Clinical Scientists have MSc's in Engineering and have undertaken MSc-level training to become Health Care Professional Council (HCPC) registered.
All Rehabilitation Engineers have mechanical or electronic engineering degrees and specialist Rehabilitation Engineers are members of the Clinical Technologies Register and Healthcare Scientists workforce.
All technicians have engineering or technical qualifications and they have extensive experience of engineering manufacturing processes.
Our administration staff support all work undertaken by the team.
The Rehabilitation Engineering Service (RES) offers a range of services to provide engineering solutions for children and young people with complex neurological and physical disability.
RES assesses, advises, modifies and provides 24-hour postural management equipment known as Assistive Technology (AT). This includes the design and manufacture of specialised items. We also assess for, recommend and advise on Electronic Assistive Technology (EAT).
The equipment enables children and young adults to undertake activities of daily living with greater independence and safety than they would otherwise be able to. It also enables carers and parents to care for them safely.
We work as part of the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) at Chailey Clinical Services and provide support to local teams within the wider community.
Multi-disciplinary team: A multi-disciplinary team (MDT) is a group of health and care staff who are members of different organisations and professions (e.g. GPs, social workers, nurses), that work together with patients and carers to make decisions regarding the treatment of individual patients and service users. MDTs are used in both health and care settings.
We assess for and meet these needs via MDT clinics at Chailey including:
Our work utilises an iterative design process, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and prototype modelling.
RES offers engineering support to external organisations. This can be adapted to meet your needs. We provide:
The department is able to manufacture in our large mechanical engineering workshop which has comprehensive design and manufacturing facilities including equipment for machining, additive manufacture, 3D scanning, woodworking, welding and finishing.
RES utilise a Quality Management System to ensure our clinical and mechanical work follows best practise and meets professional and national standards.
The department offers a comprehensive training structure. It is registered with the National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS) for the training of Clinical Scientists and the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) for the training of Rehabilitation Engineers.
Our previous apprentices have followed different routes including engineering and healthcare science pathways. Our Trainee Clinical Scientists have followed the NSHCS Scientist Programme or the NSHCS Route 2 option.
The Rehabilitation Engineering Service is unique in that is one of a few NHS departments registered with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as a manufacturer of Class I medical devices. This enables the department to not only design and manufacture bespoke and custom made medical devices such as seating systems and lying supports, but also standardised devices that can be placed on the market and sold more widely. As the department specialises in both mechanical and electronic assistive technology we are uniquely placed to support clients in identifying appropriate assistive technology for many aspects of daily life.
The RES team is often involved in research and innovation projects. We partner with our local SCFT research team on national and international projects along with universities to facilitate and support student’s thesis projects.
Service development is encouraged and learning opportunities from a wide variety of specialisms are available to our team and all at Chailey Clinical Services. We also pursue our own research projects and attend national conferences to present our work and learn from others in our field of specialism.
As of 2023/2024 the RES service is embedding recent investment into the technology we use to manufacture and modify equipment. This project has provided innovation opportunities in design and manufacturing methods for the whole department, alongside team and service development.
We offer face to face, telephone and video consultations.
You’ll meet one of our healthcare science professionals who are highly skilled in the assessment and provision of assistive technology and are part of a larger team who work in outpatient clinics.
Our services can be accessed in a range of ways:
Our service is delivered through clinic appointments at Chailey Clinical Services and visits to patient’s homes and schools.
You can also get involved by engaging with our service's social media accounts by helping with the latest fundraisers and events.
If you need advice about our services, facilities or staff, or would like to make a comment, please contact Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS).
You can contact PALS by the following:
Tell us what you think about our services, what we are good at, where we can improve, and what matters to you? All feedback will be shared anonymously wherever possible, but if you have any questions about this, please ask.
