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Ashton Graham Solicitors hosted a meeting yesterday (Wednesday 8 March) with Professor Pickard, Head of Neurosurgery at Addenbrookes Hospital 

Prof Pickard spent the day in Suffolk talking to representatives from local charities Rehab Suffolk, Sue Ryder Care, whose headquarters are at Sudbury and who have a local centre at Chantry Park, Ipswich and Optua UK, about the work they do with brain injured people.

The Professor started his visit to the county by visiting Stowmarket to view some specially designed flats for people with brain injuries. The flats, run by Optua UK and Orbit Housing Association, help people with acquired brain injury, readjust to everyday life by rehabilitating them back into the community.

Rehab Suffolk, a charity started two years ago, to ensure that people suffering from brain injuries are aware of the services and support available to them within the county, work closely with the NHS to ensure support is given to as many people as possible. They undertake this by recruiting co-ordinators to work in hospitals to help signpost people in the right direction and ensure they receive the necessary support.

Professor Pickard joined a lunchtime meeting, hosted by Neil Cawthorn from Ashton Graham Solicitors, at their Waterfront House in Ipswich. Here the Professor met representatives from Rehab Suffolk, Sue Ryder Care and the NHS to discuss future collaborative work, with the goal being to place a co-ordinator in every acute hospital in Suffolk within the next three months, and a co-ordinator in every acute hospital in the Eastern Region within three years.

Professor Pickard said, ‘I am delighted to have visited Suffolk and see for myself the splendid response to the UK National Service Framework for long term disability. Rehab Suffolk and Optua UK are going to great lengths to help people with brain injuries readjust back into the community. The chances of people with brain injuries making a recovery are improving all the time, but surgery is not enough, they need help and support to do this. Knowing where to go for this help is vital and the work I have witnessed here in Suffolk makes a huge difference in helping people on the road to recovery’.

Neil Cawthorn, a partner at Ashton Graham who is a director and trustee for Rehab Suffolk said ‘We have been delighted to host the meeting and to welcome Professor Pickard, who like us, is so keen to develop initiatives to implement the long awaited National Service Framework for disability. The next three years are going to be hard work but with the support of the Professor, and the dedication of all involved, we hope to ensure that people with brain injuries are given a greater level of support ’.

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