This week has been Child Safety Awareness Week run by the Child Action Prevention Trust. Throughout the course of the week we have run a series of blogs focusing on child safety and how it can be enhanced. Risks to children exist in everyday life whether that be by way of accident, injury, exposure to content in social media or other online resource or more targeted harm in the form of physical or sexual violence.

This week we continue to support Child Safety Week run by Child Accident Prevention Trust to raise awareness of the risks of child accidents and how they can be prevented. Accidents involving children can easily happen inside or outside of the home. There are risks in everything we do but most parents and guardians hope to find the right balance in order to allow children to grow and explore their surroundings. Many accidents are preventable but unfortunately still happen as a result of the negligence of others.

Child Action Prevention Trust are raising awareness of injuries being suffered by children and offer guidance on working together as a community to prevent injury to children, who are of course very vulnerable in society. Children are often unable to recognise dangerous situations in the same way adults are. For example, whilst children are playing it is often the case unfortunately that they step into the road in front of a passing vehicle, or can suffer injuries whilst playing on various apparatus within a play area. In addition, it is becoming easier for children to be targeted by potential abusers. The normality of social media means that children are interacting with strangers on a daily basis who could be posing as children to gain their trust with the intention of abusing the child.

​Ramsdens Solicitors has appointed Rachel Sharp, who joins Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence teams, as a Solicitor. Rachel, who joins Ramsdens from a Leeds based firm, has a wealth of experience, specialising in complex, high value Clinical Negligence actions arising from medical malpractice together with Personal Injury accident claims including, but not limited to those on the road, in the work place and those involving public liability.

​Ramsdens have been supporting Headway’s 2018 Action for Brain Injury Week campaign entitled You, me and brain injury this week. We have also taken part in Hats for Headway today, raising awareness and funds for Headway. As we have discussed in our recent blogs, suffering from a brain injury can have devastating effects on the individuals’ life together with their families. Headway’s campaign has highlighted success stories on how important support and awareness is. It is also Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day today where Spinal Injury Association, Aspire, Back Up, Spinal Research, and Spinal Injuries Scotland all come together to raise the profile of spinal injury and the devastation this can have on the injured and the people around them.

If you, a family member or friend are affected by a brain injury this will inevitably have a huge impact on your life and the people around you. Rehabilitation is key from the outset and is likely to be an ongoing aspect in any survivors life. Not only does this assist and support the individual who has suffered the brain injury but it also helps those around them to be involved with their continuing care after brain injury. It allows those supporting the injured to seek respite when carers, physiotherapists, and other therapists are working with their loved one and helps them to cope with any remaining disabilities.

​This week Ramsdens are supporting Headways Action for Brain Injury week 2018. With almost 350,000 admissions to hospitals per year in the U.K. as a result of brain injury, it really could happen to any one of us. Research into brain injury is ever evolving with advanced technology, testing and investigation.

​The NHS in Northern Ireland has recalled over 2500 neurology patients for a case review amid fears of misdiagnosis. This recall follows a review of the treatment carried out by consultant neurologist Dr Michael Watt who had worked at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust over a period of 20 years. It includes patients, both adults and children, who have been diagnosed with a wide range of neurological conditions including epilepsy, MS, Parkinson's Disease, Stroke and Motor Neurone Disease. The recall may also be extended to patients who are now deceased. The Trust will ensure a review is carried out on each patient to ensure the correct treatment is being administered and to check for any misdiagnosis of conditions.