ARmy Rumour SErvice

Originally Posted by dingerr

Don't be an arse and stick down acronyms that people have to research. Explain yourself properly.

Is neuro rehab or is it a medical service? If the patient requires neuro as a result of injury then it's rehab, if it's a birth disease driven defect then it could be argued that it is a service that the NHS are duty bound to provide.

My point is, for rehab to be effective it needs to be provided at the level that Headley court provide it, look at the comparison - at Headley I receive at least an hours physio a day as well as exercise rehab with a qualified PTI. Through the NHS and local authorities you will wait ages to see a physio in the first instance then may be lucky to get an hour a month.

There is no way a civvy with above knee amputations could learn to use a pair of C-Legs through the NHS.

Neuro-rehab in the NHS is a mix of NHS and specialist independent sector care, mainly the Brain Injury Rehab Trust who have places dotted around the country and carry out this work for MOD/NHS. A few years ago I used to commission care for this sector, so it's something I have an interest in.

One incident will always stick in my mind. I'd been to review a patient at one of the facilities and afterwards the neuro-consultant (an American who'd been in the military at some point) asked me when I'd been to Afghanistan. I told him and he told me that one of the soldiers from my time on Herrick was in the facility and did I want to meet him.

It turned out that he was one of the soldiers who we weren't sure whether would survive or not because of the nature of his injury, and I vividly remember him coming into the hospital at Bastion after the incident in which he was injured. He then went on to explain that one of the current problems they were trying to deal with was that while we can save a greater number of soldiers than ever before on the battlefield and with MERT and the R3, neuro-rehabilitation as a science (and practically) hasn't even nearly begun to catch up yet, whether within the NHS, independent sector or DMS.

Dingerr
I was aware of some of the problems you have through reading your posts but never in my life did I think that you had suffered injuries to that level.

As someone who spent some eighteen months in a iron lung as a child and later graduated to wearing calipers I salute you.

Your courage and commitment are a shining light in a dark world and I will look at your postings in a new light in future.