Today the Duke of Westminster handed over the gift of the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) to the Prime Minister at a special event held in the presence of His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge.
The DNRC is a clinical rehabilitation for the Armed Forces with the potential for a complementary civilian (ie ‘National’ facility) on the same site. It is a £300m programme to provide a bespoke and purpose-built successor to the existing Defence rehabilitation establishment at Headley Court in Surrey treating injured soldiers, sailors and airmen.
The idea at the heart of the DNRC is that, by co-locating a Defence and a National (ie civilian) facility on the same site, sharing expertise and facilities, it will be possible to raise standards of clinical care. This opportunity to bring together Defence medicine and its civilian/NHS counterpart is unique and potentially game-changing in the field of clinical rehabilitation.
The DNRC was the initiative of The 6th Duke of Westminster, Gerald Grosvenor, who led the charity fundraising drive with a personal founding gift of £70m. The Duke of Westminster, on behalf of his father who died in 2016, formally handed over the gift of the DNRC to The Prime Minister who accepted on behalf of the nation.
You can view an aerial video of the DNRC here.