Brain injury survivors get helping hand through new clinic

Headway helps people relearn essential skills

Headway Aylesbury Vale is setting up the clinics in the wake of a new report which shows an increase in hospital admissions for patients with acquired brain injuries (ABI).

Headway’s manager Karen Styles said: “We know there are some 1,500 ABI survivors in the Aylesbury Vale alone – although we only currently help a fraction of this number.

“The aim of these drop-in clinics is to help us expand our operation and reach out to the others who need help, but perhaps don’t know we exist.”

Aylesbury MP David Lidington pictured during a recent visit to Headway

The first clinic will be held on Friday July 17 from 11am to 3pm at Headway’s premises in Wedgewood Street, Fairford Leys - in the corner of the car park behind the Co-Op stores.

Health professionals will be on hand to assess health and social needs, provide information and education for carers and survivors and give advice and recommendations on what services they could benefit from.

Ms Styles said: “We currently meet twice a week to provide a range of services for ABI survivors and would love to be able to help even more people if we can.

“The drop-in clinics will be free and will provide an opportunity for people to both see what we can currently offer them and to let us know what other services we could provide that would be of real value to them.”

To get the most from this event Headway is writing to hospitals and doctors requesting they refer any suitable patients to the clinics.

The initiative follows a recent report from Headway’s national headquarters which showed hospital admissions in the South East of England for patients with acquired brain injury have increased 16% since 2006/7.

There were more than 46,000 hospital admissions for acquired brain injury in the south east last year for issues including non-superficial head injuries, strokes, brain tumours, encephalitis, and a variety of additional conditions.

For further information on Headway Aylesbury Vale’s drop-in clinics or to make a donation to the charity contact Karen on 01296 415469 or email [email protected].