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The NHS Seacole Centre at Headley Court in Surrey will be used as a temporary service for patients who are recovering from coronavirus and who no longer need care in an acute hospital.

It will also be used to treat those who have the virus and can no longer cope with their symptoms at home.

Patients will receive treatments for tracheostomy wounds and therapy to recover heart, lung and muscle function, as well as help with mental health issues such as PTSD and anxiety.

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Others may need help with their speech and social care support for basic, everyday needs.

Sir Simon Stevens, NHS chief executive, said: "While our country is now emerging from the initial peak of coronavirus, we're now seeing a substantial new need for rehab and aftercare for COVID patients who've come through this terrible illness."

Doctors are recognising that COVID-19 is more than just a respiratory condition. It can be a devastating multi-system disease. Survivors might suffer heart failure and strokes.

And after long spells on ventilators in an intensive care unit, there is a longer term mental health impact to be considered with possible PTSD, cognitive damage and the resulting anxiety it causes.

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The scale of rehabilitation for these coronavirus survivors is huge.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "We know that for some people this can be a debilitating illness, with lasting effects.

"The new NHS Seacole Centre is just the start as the NHS rapidly strengthens community support to help those affected return home to their loved ones, and to full health."

Grandfather Brian Harvey, 69, is one of many patients who will need therapy after suffering serious complications from the coronavirus.

He was in a coma for four weeks after suffering kidney failure and blood clots on his lungs.

He is now receiving physiotherapy, as well as speech and language therapy, while staying at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

"My wife had a phone call on 12 April to say I might not make it through the night," he said.

"[My family] were traumatised thinking it could be the end for me - but I pulled through."

Mr Harvey thinks his rehabilitation will take around a year.

"To me the biggest trauma is where you were so active before but now you can't reach for something and you have to get someone else to get something for you," he said.

The NHS Seacole Centre is a small but significant first step to help patients like Mr Harvey.

The disused military hospital in Surrey has been repurposed to provide local care, and NHS England says more regional specialist rehab centres will open.

But some healthcare professionals have told Sky News that any delay in rolling out a national programme will make an already bad situation much worse.

Chief executive of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Julia Scott, said: "We need to act very quickly.

"Occupational therapists are part of a family of allied health professions and, now more than ever, allied health professions are needed at the frontline in this rehab journey.

"We need investment in service provision so there are enough therapists able to respond to needs.

"We don't want people going onto waiting lists and services backing up."

NHS surgeon Dr Alice Murray said: "There are phenomenal examples of units regionally doing excellent work as integrated rehabilitation teams but that needs to be replicated on a national level. And really for that to happen we need greater funding, a long term commitment to funding for rehabilitation and we need a focus on workforce development."

Next week from Monday to Thursday, Dermot Murnaghan will be hosting After the Pandemic: Our New World - a series of special live programmes about what our world will be like once the pandemic is over.

We'll be joined by some of the biggest names from the worlds of culture, politics, economics, science and technology. And you can take part too.

If you'd like to be in our virtual audience - from your own home - and put questions to the experts, email