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Physio for Stroke at MoveWell

What is Physio for Stroke?

From September 2024 to December 2025, our student-staffed Physio for Stroke service provided highly valued and completely free physiotherapy to stroke survivors in and around Birmingham.

During this time:

  • We received 110 referrals and 80 patients were subsequently able to attend.
  • Each patient underwent a thorough assessment and received a tailored rehabilitation plan.
  • Interventions typically focused on improving mobility and/or upper limb function.

Rehab sessions

  • Some patients attended occasional appointments, while others came once or twice a week for several weeks.
  • In certain cases, we offered intensive rehabilitation, with patients attending a series of 3-hour sessions. These provided high-dose, high-intensity training consistent with evidence-based guidelines.
  • We also developed an upper limb class.
physio-for-stroke-3

Student Experience

At any given time, four of our MSci Physiotherapy students gained full-time clinical experience with us for six weeks.

Over the course of 16 months:

  • 34 students worked with the service.
  • Together, they gained more than 6,000 hours of clinical experience.

Physio for Stroke not only supported patients but also helped train the next generation of physiotherapists.

Physiotherapy students supporting patient with Neuro rehabilitation as part of the Physio for Stroke service at MoveWell

Current Status

As of December 2025, our initial funding has come to an end, and we are unable to offer the same service at present. We are actively working with partners and stakeholders to secure further funding and will provide updates here as soon as we have any news.

In the meantime, we continue to run our UPPER LIMB CLASS every Friday morning, and we welcome referrals to this class.

Female stroke patient being helped with rehabilitation by male and female staff members

Our Thanks

We are very grateful to:

  • Health Education England for funding the initiative.
  • The Stroke Association in Birmingham for their wonderful support.
  • Our colleagues in the NHS for working with us.

We all recognise that stroke services currently fall drastically short of meeting survivors’ needs — and we want to see this change in the years ahead. Perhaps our student-staffed model can be part of this by offering a clinically and cost-effective way of enhancing services more widely in the future. We are currently writing a report about the service that we will publish here in 2026.

Finally, to all our patients: thank you. We offered you physiotherapy, but in working with us, you taught us many things — and helped to teach the next generation of physiotherapists. You have all been magnificent.

All the best,

Amira Hosny and David Punt