Brain injury: Less than seven per cent of brain injury sufferers requiring continuing treatment have access to rehabilitation services, according to a consultant at the State's largest rehabilitation facility.
Each year approximately 6,000 people sustain brain injuries which have a lasting impact on their lives, but only 400 can be treated at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, said Dr Mark Delargy, consultant at the hospital and chairman of the Medical Council.
"Of the people who end up in Beaumont with head injuries every year, only a trickle get to come in our direction. There is a lack of referral, but that is because there is a lack of services, and no one wants to put people indefinitely on a waiting list," he added.
Dr Delargy was speaking at the opening of a new Rehabilitative Training Unit at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
"The incidence of acquired brain injury (ABI) as a result of an accident, illness or injury is increasing every year. The effects of ABI are long-lasting and patients and their families require continued care and support, often for the rest of their lives. Rehabilitative training is integral in the provision of a full range of rehabilitation services."
The training unit is suitable for around 20 patients at any one time, but because all patients will not be attending the unit every day, Dr Delargy hopes to cater for up to 30 people each week.
The unit aims to bridge the gap between clinical rehabilitation, provided for in the hospital, and "ordinary" life. People can explore their possible future options, be it vocational training, education, returning to existing employment or developing skills for independent living.
One of the most important elements of the unit is that it can provide supported accommodation for people who live too far away to commute each day.
"It's one of the big advantages that people from far away can stay without taking up a hospital bed," he explained.
The unit has six beds for patients and a further six for family members or carers. "A client attending the unit might need to be supported by a family member. But family members can also come to train up in how to care for people."
The unit is ideally placed to give patients and their families access to physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and the other services of the hospital.
Although the unit aims to prepare people for an independent life, it cannot make up for the lack of services in the community, Dr Delargy said.
"When we discharge people to the community, as an appropriate target for many of our patients who want to get on with their lives away from an institution, we meet the yawning gap in community services."
UK targets on brain injury services in the community recommend a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team of 25 professionals for every half a million people. "To meet our population needs we would need eight such teams," he added - currently there is no such service in the community.
