State-of-the-Art Rehabilitation Center Set to Open for Injured British Soldiers

Stanford Hall dates from the early 18th century. In the 1930’s, Sir Julian Cahn remodeled the house by adding a nine-hole golf course, a trout lake, and a decorated outdoor swimming pool. The fortunate new tenants of this luxurious estate will be the British Army’s seriously injured soldiers, as Stanford Hall undergoes renovations to become a rehabilitation center.

The current Defense Medical Rehabilitation Center is located at Headley Court in Surrey, but is set to be moved to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire by 2018. The Duke of Westminster bought Stanford Hall in 2011 with the intention of converting the estate into a £300 million treatment center. The Duke, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, has now raised the money necessary to fund the new center entirely from private donations. In addition to the state-of-the-art rehabilitation center, Stanford Hall’s 360 acres will contain a large swimming pool, hydrotherapy pools, and a 400-meter running track. A gait-analysis center is also scheduled to open in addition to a sunken garden, where patients can learn to navigate stones and cobbled paths.

Headley Court was bought after WWII by the Royal Air Force and has since been expanded to accommodate the now 20, 000 patients who are treated there. The Ministry of Defense does not own Headley Court, but has spent about £30 million on improvements. The charity Help for Heroes has donated more than £8 million to Headley Court and the charity’s funded facilities will be transferred to Stanford Hall. In addition to more extensive grounds, Stanford Hall is located closer to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, the main receiving hospital for military casualties.

Currently, Headley Court is designated a Defense Medical Rehabilitation Center. Stanford Hall will become a Defense and National Rehabilitation Center, where the wider public will be treated in the same facilities as the injured service members. Philip Hammond, the Defense Secretary, and Air Marshal Paul Evans, the Surgeon General, disclosed plans for the new Stanford Hall treatment center on Thursday, July 10, 2014. These plans will be detailed in a ministerial statement in Parliament. The development of Stanford Hall into a rehabilitation center for injured personnel will help honor the Military Covenant, approved in 2011, that commits Britain to the care of injured service members.