A PRIVATE clinic which helps brain and spinal injury patients recover is seeking more NHS referrals.

The Hawthorns Rehabilitation Centre, in Peterlee, County Durham, was opened in July 2001 at a cost of £500,000.

Despite a severe shortage in specialist neuro-rehabilitation facilities in the North-East, the private centre still has spare capacity.

Today, the East Durham centre is re-launching itself in a bid to raise its profile in the region with NHS professionals.

A spokesman for the Hawthorns Centre said: "The centre is already proving itself after just 18 months work. Twenty-three patients have been treated and 13 have been discharged with an average length of stay of just six months when the expected stay was between 18 and 24 months."

Of those patients remaining, the average stay is only 13 months. The owners of the clinic said the effectiveness of the centre's therapies, resulting in shorter stays for patients, results in excellent value for money for the NHS.

The Hawthorns offers an intensive programme of rehabilitation including physiotherapy, psychology, speech and occupational therapy and dietetics.

Michael Amos, 32, of Middlesbrough, was involved in a serious car crash in November 2000. Following hospital treatment the only available place for him to recover was in a nursing home for elderly people.

Hearing about the Hawthorns, Michael's parents, James and Margaret, fought to get him moved to the new centre where he has been since September 2001. "We are very happy he is here now," said Mr Amos.

Dennis Wales, 51, from near Peterlee, suffered a brain haemorrhage two years ago. His wife, Pat, said: "They told us in hospital he would never make a full recovery, but since he moved to the Hawthorns in 1991 he has come on marvellously."