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You are here Our ServicesBrain Injury And Neurodisability
"I have been the Manager of the home for the past 3½ years and have seen the home grow into a busy and purposeful environment for our clients. We are dedicated to encouraging client participation in decision-making, choices and a voice in staff recruitment. We have an excellent staff team and I feel we have a lot to offer."
Kelly Cox
Centre Manager, The Dell
The Huntercombe Group recently celebrated 21 years since the opening of its first brain injury rehabilitation centre in Scotland. Our brain injury services have since grown and diversfied to offer patients and commissioners a significant breadth of rehabilitation and healthcare programmes, delivered across the clinical pathway from post-acute to slow stream and low arousal states.We offer a wide range of brain injury and neurodisability services that can be categorised as follows:Brain Injury RehabilitationNeurodisabilityNeuropsychiatry and Brain Injury (NABIS)Children with a Brain Injury
Brain Injury Rehabilitation
Whether the brain injury is acquired or traumatic, caused by a stroke, accident, haemorrhage, lack of oxygen or infection; the emotional, social, intellectual and behavioural consequences, as well as cognitive or behavioural disabilities, can be complex and difficult to manage.
At our five specialist centres we provide a high quality intensive inpatient rehabilitation service for adults with traumatic or acquired brain injury. Our centres in London, Bristol, Nottingham, Hothfield Murdostoun (near Glasgow) and in Stocksbridge (near Sheffield) all welcome medically stable adult patients who require an intense period of inpatient rehabilitation.
Our centre in Frenchay- Bristol, is situated in a unique location on an NHS hospital site, and is also able to treat adolescents (from the age of 16) and more acute patients including those in a minimally conscious state. Blackheath and Frenchay are able to admit detained patients.
Across these centres, we provide, a comprehensive assessment, rehabilitation, therapy and community integration programme for people with physical and cognitive impairment and people with challenging behaviour following brain injury.
Our patients/ clients are under the care of a highly qualified and experienced interdisciplinary team which could consist of a Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, Consultant Neuropsychiatrist, Consultant Neuropsychologist and therapists who work alongside nursing staff and rehabilitation assistants to minimise disabilities.
At every stage, we are mindful of the wishes and rights of our patients; providing an environment that is caring, safe, comfortable, respects privacy and dignity, and fosters a positive attitude to recovery and independence. Through a goal-directed programme, we help patients to set, track and achieve recovery milestones.
Treatment also includes preparation for returning to independent living, including practising day-to-day life skills and transitional arrangements to ease reintegration into the community.
Neurodisability
Our neurodisability centres provide care for adults (18 to 65 years) with a brain injury or neurodisability who require either continuing, short-term or respite care.
We have experience in dealing with a variety of neurodisabilities including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsons Disease, Motor Neurone Disease and Huntingtons Disease.
A number of our centres have a well-established service for individuals with Huntingtons Disease with one having a dedicated unit; another centre has a specific interest in the treatment of spinal injuries.
At some of our centres we are able to admit clients with specific nursing requirements, such as PEG feeding tubes, tracheostomies ,supra pubic catheters orassisted ventilation.
Because the majority of our clients require continuing care, we have worked hard to create an environment in all our centres that is homely, welcoming, comfortable and safe and which promotes a positive attitude to independence. We also recognise the benefits to clients of family involvement and we welcome and encourage relatives and friends to be part of life at our centres. We believe that our clients should enjoy all the activities that the rest of us take for granted and for this reason we have dedicated activities co-ordinators within our centres, who organise varied programmes of activities within the centre and provide opportunities for our clients to continue their existing hobbies and pastimes. They also arrange external trips such as visits to the cinema and shopping trips all based on the clients interests.
Our teams are committed to providing high standards of nursing and rehabilitation, treating each client as an individual and reflecting their wishes and rights to privacy, dignity and respect.
Our registered nurses have the role of keyworker, each leading a small team of staff providing care, support and encouragement for a small group of clients and planning their care in consultation with the individual, their relatives and their doctor
Neuropsychiatry and Brain Injury Service (NABIS)
Based at our hospital in Roehampton, this highly specialist service provides treatment for adults with acute or chronic neuropsychiatric conditions with the added complication of a co-existing congenital or acquired brain injury and whose psychological, cognitive, emotional or behavioural difficulties require inpatient treatment.
We specialise in the treatment of high risk behaviour, forensic presentations and patients with moderate to severe disability due to brain disease. We have an excellent track record of achievements in various treatment and clinical programmes for this particular group of patients.
Our dedicated multi-disciplinary team is headed by consultant psychiatrist, Dr Agron Ramadani and also includes a clinical neuropsychologist, occupational therapist and full time nurse specialist with specialised experience in neuropsych-brain injury.
Our assessment and treatment programmes are carefully designed by our designated multi-disciplinary team to assist the patient and their families in achieving an improved quality of life. Our programmes have due emphasis on patient needs and aim to achieve excellent results in the shortest length of time.
Adolescent Brain Injury and Rehabilitation Service
Based at our hospital in Stafford, we offer bespoke treatment programmes which provide young people (13-19 years) suffering with a brain injury the skills to live as independently as possible, ideally returning to their family homes and schools. We also include the family in this unique patient programme. There are currently only two services of this kind in the UK.
We provide both time limited short-term inpatient assessment and treatment and longer-term rehabilitation packages.
Our team is headed by Dr Gordon Bates, consultant child and adolescent neuropsychiatrist. A consultant for over 10 years, he is one of the few child and adolescent neuropsychiatrists in the UK with additional expertise in paediatric neurology. The team also comprises a psychologist, teachers, Occupational Therapists, Dietitians, Speech and Language Therapist, Social Worker, Physiotherapist, Art Therapist, Recreation Therapist, Psychodynamic Therapist, paediatric Neurodisability Consultant.
With this team in place, we provide:
•Schooling, we are a fully accredited examination centre
•Neuropsychiatric assessment including psychometric testing
•Recreation and leisure therapy
•Individual therapies, for example, art therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy
•Group work, for example, social skills and anger management training
•Parent/ Carer education and training to increase understanding of brain injury and its effects
•Family therapy
•Access to clinical expertise from our other brain injury services
With our dedicated team’s experience in brain injury assessment and rehabilitation, we are achieving successful treatment outcomes which in turn lead to consistently short length of stay and value for money.
With our dedicated team’s experience in brain injury assessment and rehabilitation, we are achieving successful treatment outcomes which in turn lead to consistently short length of stay and value for money.
Each year we issue separate surveys to both our patients/ clients and to our referrers asking them what they think of the service we provide. All information is fed back to our clients about what we do well, what we could do better and how we aim to improve the service we provide. All our surveys are anonymous. We asked both our referrers and our patients/clients to tell us about any aspect of our service that they have been particularly impressed with. The following comments are some examples of responses to this question taken from our 2011 surveys:
Client/Relative: “All staff are particularly pleasant and attentive and we are very impressed with the level of care given by all” (Abbeymoor Neurodisability Centre)
Client/Relative: “The caring qualities of the staff. They genuinely do care for the residents. Some are outstanding” (Aspley Neurodisability Services)
Client/Patient/Relative: “The nursing staff are lovely, kind, happy people who are willing to listen and help in anyway” (Blackheath Brain Injury Rehabilitation Services)
Client/Relative: “Very friendly staff, always make you feel very welcome” (Campsie House Neurodisability Centre)
Client/Relative: “I would like to add what total peace of mind your care has given me in respect of my husband. Whenever I visit he looks well cared for. Since he has been with you he has had no falls or admittances to hospital whereas previously he was admitted once every three months. Thank you” (The Huntercombe Neurodisability Centre-Crewe)
Client/Patient/Relative: “Cheerfulness of the staff. Everyone knows and understands each patient’s condition and cares for them – and give hugs!” (Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre)