Head Injuries

The Facts

An estimated 1 million people in Britain attend hospital each year as a result of a head injury.

Of these:

• 150,000 will suffer a minor head injury, resulting in unconsciousness for 15 minutes or less
• 10,000 will suffer a moderate head injury, causing unconsciousness for up to six hours. After five years, some will still have physical or psychological problems
• 11,600 people will suffer severe head injury and remain unconscious for six hours or longer. After five years, only 15 per cent will have returned to work
• In general, males are two to three times more likely to have a head injury than females
• The age group most at risk of head injury is 15 to 29. In this age group, males are five times more likely to sustain injuries. The death rate following traumatic brain injury is approximately 9 per 1000. Therefore, this leaves a large proportion of young survivors who have more or less unimpaired life expectancy.

www.headway.org.uk

The Service

Medico provides both personal care and support services to it clients with head injuries. The care itself may range from a couple of hours per day to 24 hours per day.

What is it?

Acquired brain injuries are injuries that have occurred since birth. An enormous range of effects can result from a brain injury, depending on the severity. There are different degrees of brain injury, which include:

• Traumatic brain injury – Often results in damage to the nerve fibres in the centre of the brain and can result in coma. There can be loss of power in the arms and legs, speech impairment, changes in personality and memory, as well as behavioral problems.
• A moderate head injury – This is defined as a loss of consciousness of between 15 minutes and six hours and can result in tiredness, headaches, dizziness, difficulties with thinking and attention span, or irritability.
• Minor head injury – An estimated 75 per cent of all head injuries fall into this category, such as banging your head on a doorway or slipping over in the street. However, even such small accidents can result in nausea, headaches, dizziness, memory problems and extreme tiredness, and sometimes lead to anxiety or depression.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/health/awareness_campaigns/mar_braininjury.shtm

Medico Home Care´s Objective

To deliver care services to clients with head injuries that put the needs of the client first and help facilitate rehabilitation.

How can we help?

Our aim is to deliver care that will aid rehabilitation of the client. Rehabilitation is a process of change through which a brain-injured person goes, seeking to regain former skills and to compensate for skills lost. Its aim is always to achieve the optimum levels of physical, cognitive and social competence followed by integration into the most suitable environment.

To achieve this we need to ensure the approach involves a process of change in which the person concerned participates. Rehabilitation has two stages, the first being the formal intervention to improve the individual, and the second stage is when the family and carers work to maintain that improvement.

Medico Home Care are there to provide support in this second stage; where family is often actively involved, and where informal rehabilitation can be maintained at home

– We are only a phone call away. Use our Branch Finder to find out your nearest Medico office.

Further Information:

www.headway.org.uk
www.bbsf.org.uk – Brain and Spine Foundation