RESIDENTS at Sue Ryder Care s Old Palace, in Ely, are to benefit from a multi-million pound investment programme. It will be rolled out over the next few years and includes £10million for the creation of a specialist neuro-rehabilitation service in partne

RESIDENTS at Sue Ryder Care's Old Palace, in Ely, are to benefit from a multi-million pound investment programme.

It will be rolled out over the next few years and includes £10million for the creation of a specialist neuro-rehabilitation service in partnership with Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge.

By working in partnership with primary care trusts and social services, the charity will aim to bridge the gap between the acute care received at the hospital and the support needed by patients in the future.

It will involve looking at services across East Anglia and deciding whether patients need care at Ely's Sue Ryder Care home, in their own homes or need to be directed to other community groups.

Sue Ryder Care, based at the Old Palace, in Ely, is about to celebrate its 21st birthday and provides permanent and respite care for young, physically disabled people and those with neurological disorders.

A specialist wing on the ground floor caters for people with Huntington's disease. Charity trustees believe the new programme, 2020 Vision: Taking Care of the Future, will make the organisation a leading and indispensable provider of specialist care.

Sue Ryder Care chief executive Iain Henderson said: "Our new-look services will continue to put the service user at the centre of everything we do.

"As a modern and progressive provider of specialist healthcare, we will offer a range of services that can be mixed and matched to meet the very specific needs of people with the most challenging conditions.

"Using our expertise and experience, we will be able to provide highly specialised care for people for their whole journey through their illness."

Chairman of the Trustees, John Oldham, said: "This is a very significant move forward for Sue Ryder Care and one which will change the way the charity operates substantially.

"We are ready to meet the enormous challenges that exist in the demanding area of specialist healthcare and, in so doing, truly make a difference to the lives of thousands of people.

"The way ahead will stretch the charity and everyone in it but the result will have such positive, far-reaching implications for the way in which specialist care is delivered that Sue Ryder Care will be the envy of the best of other healthcare providers.