APPENDIX 12
Memorandum by Mrs Pam Durrant (H28)
I am employed full-time by the local charity
Headway Cambridgeshire to support and advise the families of brain
injury survivors. Sometimes my first contact will come from my
regular visits to Addenbrooke's NHS Trust Hospital, which is one
of the regional centres for neuroscience in East Anglia.
However, on many occasions, I will "find"
someone after they have returned home and brain injury may only
have recently been discovered.
From talking with colleagues across the country
I understand that several hospitals have appointed a Brain Injury
Co-ordinator. This person ensures that there is a "seamless"
approach to case management of every case involving a brain injury
and that agencies are involved in providing a rehabilitation and
reintegration care path appropriate to that individual.
This would take the onus away from family members—who
are under enough stress and have enough other worries—and
the pot luck nature of treatment.
If there was one single thing which would greatly
enhance the long term outcomes of people with brain injuries it
would be the provision of a Co-ordinator to support them and their
families from when they first enter the medical care setting and
I urge the Committee to consider this as a recommendation for
proper service provision.
February 2001
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