Research networks for stroke rehabilitation: opportunities and barriers.

The previous negative attitude to stroke care is gradually giving way to a more positive approach, stimulated by a growing evidence base and policy initiatives such as the requirement that stroke units be established in all district general hospitals. There is now a new opportunity to link groups of stroke units into research networks to support the implementation of multi-centre trials. Such trials have the potential to increase patient recruitment rates, and will enhance the generalisability of the findings. Recent experience in establishing a stroke rehabilitation research network is reported in this paper.