| | | | Brain Injury Solicitors | | |  | ' I want to thank you sincerely for your dedication and compassion over the last two/three years in dealing with my son’s case' |  |
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| | | | | Support and Outreach/Rehabilitation (courtesy of Headway).
(i.) Assessments
Assessment is an essential tool in understanding a person’s needs and prospects for the future. Very often, formal assessments take place during a hospital stay and can be performed by a range of professionals from a multi-disciplinary team such as surgeons, social workers, neurologists, neuro-psychologists, rehabilitation medicine specialists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, nurses and others.
As assessment is the key to understanding the injured person’s current situation and abilities and it forms the basis for the multi-disciplinary team to understand how best to address their future needs.
Most people who are treated for severe brain injuries would be assessed by clinical psychologists or clinical neuro-psychologists during their stay in hospital. If the person has been discharged from hospital, you can ask their GP to refer them to the appropriate professional |
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| (eg: psychologist, neuro-surgeon, rehabilitation specialist) working in a public hospital. There can be a lack of knowledge and experience about acquired brain injury amongst many non-specialist medical professionals. You may find yourself in the usual situation of having to ‘educate’ your GP about certain aspects of your family member’s injury. In some cases, it may be possible to locate professionals working privately who are prepared to perform certain assessments for a fee.
Neuro-psychologists are professionals whose field of study is centred on the brain and its functions. Neuro-psychological testing is designed to determine the brain’s capacity with respect to short and long-term memory, abstract reasoning, attention, concentration, executive function, motor skills and other psychological factors. A neuro-psychologist can compare the pattern of the capacity shown in tests with the pattern of a person’s capacities prior to injuries and correlate the results with the nature of the trauma. This can, to a reasonable degree of certainty, determine the person’s limitations as a result of their injury.
| (ii.) Rehabilitation treatments
The purpose of rehabilitation is to consider each person’s situation individually and then help them through various therapies and strategies, to maximise their potential. In the case of an acquired brain injury, this can involve physical, cognitive, educational and vocational rehabilitation.
The typical route for a person who has sustained a severe brain injury who requires a neuro-surgeon is admission to one of the two national centres for neuro-science (either Beaumont Hospital or Cork University Hospital).
Following a period of care and assessment, they may then be discharged to their local hospital or sent back home to await rehabilitation or to a long-term residential home or unit. Some people are referred to the National Rehabilitation Hospital straight away.
When hospital rehabilitation is not considered appropriate and in the absence of suitable residential accommodation, a person may be discharged home to the care of family members. Families in this situation often find themselves under strain in an attempt to source further help and support, particularly if the injury is severe. Additionally, many individuals and families are struggling to cope, having by-passed the hospital system entirely. This may be due to a person’s injury going undiagnosed to late on-set of symptoms, injury in another country or a range of other factors.
(iii.) National Rehabilitation Hospital
Specialist rehabilitation services such as those offered at the NRH in Dun Laoghaire can offer vital treatment to aid the process of improvement following brain injury. These services are not appropriate for every person and the demand for the service exceeds the number of places available. Following in-patient treatments or a stay at the NRH many people are discharged home. The NRH also provides some out-patient rehabilitation | | | Visitors to this section of our website are encouraged to visit the website of Headway Ireland at www.headway.ie
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