The Community Rehabilitation Alliance in England is made up of more than 65 charities and professional bodies.
The Alliance is committed to improving commissioning, planning and delivery of rehabilitation.
The CRA's core asks are for political parties to
- Commit to rehabilitation as an equal pillar of health care to medicines and surgery and reflect this in an updated NHS Constitution.
- Mandate integrated care boards (ICBs) to improve access to high-quality community rehabilitation services for their populations with a single accountable lead in each ICB for rehabilitation.
- Commit to the expansion of the rehabilitation workforce in the community, making use of the full workforce available, including AHPs, mental health experts, medics and nurses, social care and support workers, exercise professionals and the voluntary sector.
Alliance activities in England
The CRA continues to build strong relations with healthcare and government to help shape the planning, commissioning and delivery of rehabilitation.
Its success can be seen in how NHS England's Intermediate Care Framework and new model for community rehabilitation drew on the CRA approach.
It also influenced further progress with the publication of the rehabilitation best practice standards, which, for the first time, set out what good rehab looks like, taking into account multiple conditions and multiple professions.
This was supported by the creation of the Director of Rehab role within NHS England, which the CRA had been calling for.
The alliance is committed to working with NHS England as it develops a new Workforce Plan that better reflects population needs and implements its new 10 Year Plan for reform.
Working groups
The Community Rehabilitation Alliance in England currently has working groups that are active in the following areas:
- Political engagement
- Communications
The Community Rehabilitation Alliance members
The CRA members include:
- Age UK
- Alzheimer's Society
- Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance
- Asthma + Lung UK
- Brainkind
- The British and Irish Association of Stroke Physicians
- British and Irish Orthoptic Society
- British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation
- British Association of Social Workers
- The British Association of Sport Rehabilitators
- British Chiropractic Association
- The British Dietetic Association
- British Geriatrics Society
- British Heart Foundation
- The British Psychological Society
- British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
- College of Paramedics
- Community Rehabilitation Research Network
- Community Therapists Network
- The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
- Chiltern Music Therapy
- DayOne Trauma Support
- Fifth Sense
- FitzRoy
- Headway – the Brain Injury Association
- ICUsteps
- INPA - Independent Neurorehabilitation Providers Alliance
- The Intensive Care Society
- Later Life Training
- Leonard Cheshire
- Limbless Association
- Macmillan Cancer Support
- Meningitis Research Foundation
- MS Society
- Muscular Dystrophy UK
- The National Care Forum
- National Orthopaedic Alliance
- National Voices
- The Neurological Alliance
- Nuffield Health
- Parkinson’s UK
- Person-Centred Neurosciences Society
- The Queen’s Nursing Institute
- Rehabilitation Workers Professional Network
- Royal College of Occupational Therapists
- Royal College of Physicians
- Royal College of Podiatry
- Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
- RNIB - Royal National Institute of Blind People
- Royal Osteoporosis Society
- Same You
- Taskforce for Lung Health
- The Society of Sports Therapists
- The Society for Research in Rehabilitation
- Spinal Injuries Association
- Stroke Association
- Sue Ryder
- Thomas Pocklington Trust
- ukactive
- UK Hospital at Home Society
- UKKA - UK Kidney Association
- The United Kingdom Brain Injury Forum
- UP – The Adult Cerebral Palsy Movement
- Versus Arthritis
- Vocational Rehabilitation Association
Contact
If you have any questions or would like to find out further information about the CRA, please get in touch with the CRA team.
For communications queries relating to the alliance, please contact Tamsin Starr, strategic communications manager.