The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court records the total number of patient episodes, which is the number of collated reviews for individual patients, as well as new patient referrals. The total numbers of such episodes over the last five financial years up to 28 February are provided in the following table. These figures include patient episodes at both the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre itself and the London and Overseas Regional Rehabilitation Unit which is also based at Headley Court.
In-patients Out-patients Total 2004-05 1,544 2,913 4,457 2005-06 1,408 3,093 4,501 2006-07 1,685 4,219 5,904 2007-08 1,885 5,000 6,885 2008-09 1,830 5,669 7,499
Details over the last 14 months are provided as follows.
In-patients Out-patients Total January 2008 163 499 662 February 2008 166 513 679 March 2008 148 470 618 April 2008 128 554 682 May 2008 113 445 558 June 2008 174 530 704 July 2008 206 479 685 August 2008 176 396 572 September 2008 161 461 622 October 2008 157 520 677 November 2008 141 548 689 December 2008 55 357 412 January 2009 124 528 652 February 2009 113 461 574
Patient referrals cover a wide range of injuries. Over the period covered by these statistics, there has been an increase in military operational tempo. This has led to an increase in patient activity overall and a more complex patient cohort requiring repeat admission to Headley Court. There have also been changes in the balance between the numbers of patients requiring a ward bed and those who do not, including an increase in specialist clinics such as consultant-led visiting clinics and prosthetic clinics. However, it continues to be the case that most cases treated at Headley Court have not resulted from current operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.