Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Neurodisabilities

Our 20 specialist centres provide tailored, individual rehabilitation programmes for people with a brain injury or a neurodisability.

Our goal oriented programmes are targeted at reducing disability and improving social and emotional aspects to enhance the prospects for a more fulfilling life, or a return to independent living.

Our brain injury and neurodisability services provide treatment for complex neurological problems including acquired or traumatic brain injury, challenging behaviours, neurodisabilities, spinal injury and the rehabilitation of these conditions.

We can offer intense rehabilitation in the post-acute phase following a brain injury right through to step-down independent supported living.

We offer a range of brain injury and neurodisability services that can be categorised as follows:

  • Brain Injury Rehabilitation
  • Neurodisability
  • Neuropsychiatry and Brain Injury (NABIS)
  • Adolescent Brain Injury and Rehabilitation
  • Spinal Injuries

For further information about each of the services we can offer, please read more in the sections below:

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 four specialist centres we provide a high quality intensive inpatient rehabilitation service for adults with traumatic or acquired brain injury. Our centres in Blackheath- London, Frenchay – Bristol, Hothfield-Ashford and in Murdostoun - Glasgow 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; provide an environment that is caring, safe, comfortable and respects privacy and dignity; and foster 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.

For further information about our brain injury rehabilitation services, please click on the relevant centre:

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, Parkinson’s Disease, Motor Neurone Disease and Huntington’s Disease.

A number of our centres have a well established service for individuals with Huntington’s 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 or assisted ventilation.

Because the majority of our clients require continuing care, we aim to create an environment in all our centres that is homely, welcoming, comfortable and safe and which facilitates 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 lead as normal a life as possible and for this reason we have dedicated activities co-ordinators within our centres, who organise a programme of activities within the centre and external trips such as visits to the cinema.

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.

For more information on how we have developed our service for clients with Huntington’s Disease thus far, please refer to the following article: Developing a service for Huntington’s Disease.

For further information about our neurodisability services, please click on the relevant centre:

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.

For further information about our hospital in Roehampton, please click below:

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.

For further information about our hospital in Stafford, please click below:

Our specialist spinal injury service is located in Blyth, Northumberland. For more information about this service, please click the link below:

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.

Referrer comments 2010:

  • "Very impressed by the level of commitment in working with challenging behaviours and able to be flexible with service users in meeting their needs”. Abbeymoor Neurodisability Centre, Gateshead
  • “I believe the services provided are very professional and there is good communication and liaison with the staff” Blackheath Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre and Neurodisability Service, London
  • “Overall I have been very impressed with the unit. There is always plenty of staff and everyone has a professional manner. There is no doubt that the patients get excellent care. Well done!” Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, Bristol

Client/ Relative comments (2010):

  • “Very impressed and touched by the quality of the staff, who are all very caring and good to be around” Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, Bristol
  • “I love all the staff here, all very good at their job and it’s the best home I have been in” Nottingham Neurodisability Service – Aspley
  • “Staff are particularly kind and patient” Hothfield Manor Acquired Brain Injury Centre, Ashford
  • “The staff are all very friendly and it’s good that some have been here for years so that the service is more consistent. The activity ladies in particular are fab” Nottingham Neurodisability Service- Hucknall
  • “I have my own privacy and my own choice of mind” Stanhope Neurodisability Centre, Consett

Click on a centre below to view its current Quality Rating.

Throughout the year we run events, conferences and seminars where we discuss the treatment of people with brain injuries or neurodisabilities. These events provide insight into the conditions, how care is provided, information on new treatments, support for friends and relatives and case studies, amongst other topics. Some events are accredited for professional learning.

The following lists all our upcoming events or conferences where we will discuss brain injuries and/or neurodisabilities:

  • No upcoming events

The following list is all events we have previously held where brain injuries and/or neurodisabilities were covered. The pages for these events contain an overview of the event, programme, as well as downloads of any presentations and documentation.

The following lists various organisations and charities which offer advice, guidance and support to people with a brain injury or a neurodisability. Click a link to view more details for that organisation, as well as contact information.