Throughout this week, we are supporting Action for Brain Injury Week 2021. This year’s focus is ‘a life of lockdown’ and the social isolation faced by brain injury survivors both pre and post-lockdown.

Rehabilitation is often vital for a brain injury survivor’s recovery. In specialist rehabilitation centres, a multidisciplinary team of professionals often work together to support the brain injury survivor with physical cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. This therefore means a variety of professionals may be engaged, potentially consisting of occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, nurses, social workers and family members. Survivors are also often supported by case managers, who are responsible for overseeing their overall care.

Rehabilitation can help minimise the long-term impact of the injury by helping the brain learn alternative ways of working. Unfortunately, 57% of survivors have been denied vital rehab as a result of social distancing, causing many to fear for their future and feel isolated. This has particularly been an issue for survivors in the early stages of their recovery, as the first two years following a brain injury are of significant importance in terms of a patient’s long term prognosis. Delay in receiving rehabilitation has the potential to drastically impact a survivor’s ability to lead an independent life in the future.

As social distancing eases, rehabilitation services are continuing but it is expected that there will be a backlog. Some brain injury survivors will therefore continue to feel the impact of the pandemic long after social distancing has subsided.

If you have suffered a brain injury and would like a conversation with one of our experienced personal injury solicitors, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01484 821 500, or submit your claim online and a member of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.