LIVING WELL WITH A BRAIN INJURY, FOR ALL OF LIFE

At Prestige Nursing & Care, we believe that people living with a brain injury should be able to live a fulfilled and healthy life with the right support in place, tailored to their individual needs.

As an established provider, we have been supporting individuals who require brain injury care to have an improved quality of life in their own homes and communities for over 75 years. We have been trusted by families up and down the country to provide care for all of life, evolving the level and type of care we provide to meet changing needs.

YOUR HOME IS BEST FOR BRAIN INJURY CARE

We know through our experience of supporting thousands of people and their families, that facing the prospect of needing long-term care and support can be a challenging time. For those with care needs, most people would prefer to stay in the safety, comfort and familiarity of their treasured home and not endure the disruption caused from a move away.

Staying at home with the brain injury care you need means that you can continue to live life your way, whilst benefiting from one-to-one care provided by a competent and compassionate carer. They will focus on effectively managing your physical and mental health, so you can have an improved quality of life with enhanced well-being. Care at home enables you to remain independent and live your life with choice, whilst supporting you to successfully meet development milestones and if you are a child or young adult, your educational achievements.

WHAT IS A BRAIN INJURY?

Acquired brain injury is an ‘umbrella’ term and covers all brain injuries that may occur from birth onwards. This includes traumatic brain injury as well as brain tumour, stroke, brain haemorrhage, brain aneurysm and encephalitis. The effects are often very similar to traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury is an acquired injury to the brain caused by a trauma to the head (a head injury), most commonly from an accident, road traffic accident or a fall.

The effects of a traumatic brain injury can be wide-ranging and depend on factors such as type of brain injury, location of injury in the brain and severity of the injury.

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ACQURIED BRAIN INJURY IN ADULTS

An acquired brain injury (ABI) is an injury to the brain that is sustained at any time after birth. There are two ways that an adult may sustain an ABI. They may have a traumatic brain injury such as an accident or surgery or a non-traumatic brain injury from a stroke, brain tumour or from the brain being starved of oxygen (hypoxia). There is a difference between an acquired brain injury and a degenerative brain condition which is when the tissues or structure of the brain change over time, for example with Alzheimer’s disease.

An ABI can affect the way someone thinks, feels and behaves as well as their ability to complete daily tasks they would have found easy before their injury. These difficulties may return to normal but often there is some level of change that is permanent.

The brain controls everything that a person does so acquired brain injury symptoms are wide-ranging. They often involve all aspects of neurorehabilitation including physical, behavioural, cognitive, emotional, communication and social aspects of therapy and care.

Psychological/behavioural symptoms of an ABI may include:
  • Significant changes in behaviour
  • Difficulties in acquiring new information and problem solving
  • Poor reasoning and judgement
  • Shortened attention span
  • Emotional problems such as depression and anxiety
  • In ability to organise and plan
  • Difficulty carrying out daily tasks such as eating and dressing
Physical symptoms of an ABI may include:
  • Headaches
  • Weakness in limbs
  • Restricted range of movements
  • Spasticity
  • Tiredness and fatigue
  • Sleep disturbance
  • Epilepsy and seizures
  • Incontinence
  • Difficulty with speaking and swallowing
  • Problems with vision

ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY IN CHILDREN

An acquired brain injury is an injury that is sustained at any time after birth. This is in contrast to injuries that occur before or just around the time of birth such as perinatal hypoxia (lack of oxygen).

As in adults, an acquired brain injury in children can be caused by trauma to the head, such as a fall or sports injury, or non-traumatic due to a stroke or brain tumour.

Most head injuries in infants and toddlers occur due to falls at home. Other common causes may be road traffic accidents or during playground activities. Brain injuries in this age group can also result from a non-traumatic event such as meningitis.

Brain injury can also occur in the early days of a child’s life resulting from complications at birth. Later, this can often lead to a cerebral palsy diagnosis. The risk of head injury is high in teenagers and occurs twice as often in boys than girls often through sports activities such as football, hockey, riding bikes or roller skating.

Regardless of the reason for a head injury, the consequences and outcomes following a brain injury in children are often more severe due to the child’s development. The skull of a young child is softer and the brain is less shielded. This can heighten the injury through bleeding or bruising, which can cause parts of the brain to swell.

An injury can make learning new skills challenging and make it difficult for a younger child to develop the skills that an older child already has mastered. Conversely, there is a school of thought that believes that a younger brain is more adaptable and able to find new ways of doing things.

Any long-term problem experienced by children depends partly on the injury itself. If the damage was to the left side of the brain, they may suffer weakness down the right side of the body and vice-versa.

THE IMPACT OF AN ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY (ABI) IN CHILDREN

In addition to the symptoms that are commonly experienced by adults, children may also experience the following symptoms:

  • Fatigue beyond physical tiredness
  • Irritability and headaches
  • Difficulty with adapting and switching routines
  • Sensory problems – this means difficulty processing what is going on, and they may feel easily overwhelmed by noise or a busy environment.
  • Mobility issues
  • Seizure management

A serious head injury can have lasting effects, requiring specialist rehabilitation to help the child achieve as full as recovery as possible.

Brain injury can have a huge psychological effect on the parents of children who have received their injury as a baby, as they may be unsure what the longer-term impact may be for their child and family and may live with uncertainty.

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OUR APPROACH TO BRAIN INJURY CARE AT HOME

At Prestige Nursing & Care, we provide a care and support package that enables you to live a happy and fulfilled life in the safety and comfort of your own home. No matter what age you are, the brain injury care and support we provide will be guided by you and tailored to your needs, giving you choice over how you live your life and the support you want. 

Our focus is for you to have as much enjoyment in life and our carer will support you with a care plan for brain injury that means you can enjoy activities and as much socialisation as you wish.  They will actively encourage you to learn new skills and engage in new hobbies to make life stimulating and meaningful.

Reablement care

For clients living with a brain injury who need to relearn skills, our carers provide goal-focused care at home. This involves intensive time-limited assessment and therapy intended to reduce the need for a long-term care arrangement or readmission to hospital.

Enablement care

We provide support to people living with a brain injury who need to learn new skills to improve the overall quality of their life with as much independence as possible. Our carers are focused on enabling a person to do as much for themselves as possible with the right support, as opposed to just doing it for them. We know this means people can live a more fulfilled and purposeful life.

Rehabilitation

We assist outcome-based rehabilitation at home following a life-altering incident like a brain injury that supports an individual with mobility, physical development and mental health well-being. We adopt a multi-disciplinary approach to the service we provide working in collaboration with other healthcare professionals, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. This ensures a high-quality, holistic and responsive approach to the brain injury care we provide.

Promoting positive mental health

We know how much a brain injury can affect a person’s mental health impacting how they function day-to-day, their relationships, physical health and ability to enjoy life. Our expert care team encourages healthy behaviours that promote a positive mood and build self-esteem and can identify and react to symptoms early through effective monitoring of a person’s well-being.

We work collaboratively with our clients and their families to develop a thorough care and support plan that accurately reflects a person’s holistic needs. We also adopt a partnership approach to working with local authority partners, NHS services, multidisciplinary teams, therapists and other community bodies involved in a person’s care. This means we are well-informed so we can provide continuity of care ensuring the right care is in place at the right time, whilst responding efficiently to changing needs and strengthening care provision when required.

COMPETENT AND COMPASSIONATE BRAIN INJURY CARERS

When you choose Prestige Nursing & Care, you can be reassured that the carer who cares for you or your loved one is experienced and expertly trained to provide the support you need, to the high standards you should expect.

If you are receiving complex care at home, the carers we choose to support your needs will have at least six months care or health sector experience before they come to care for you. In addition to completing our induction training programme, which goes above mandatory requirements, they are trained by our registered nurses, clinical experts and other healthcare professionals involved in providing care to a specific client. This hands-on nurse training means our carers can competently undertake a range of clinical interventions.

We adopt a bespoke approach to training that ensures our carers have the knowledge, skills and aptitude to deliver high-quality complex care that meets the very specific needs of our clients. Through our unrivalled supervision and clinical oversight, carers can adapt their approach and evolve the care they provide to meet changing needs.

We are very proud of our carers – each and every one of them is dedicated to providing compassionate, sensitive and dignified complex care at home that means our clients live a fulfilled and meaningful life, with independence and choice, for all of life.

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CLINICAL EXCELLENCE AT PRESTIGE NURSING & CARE

Clinical excellence is at the heart of our culture and service delivery at Prestige Nursing & Care. Our nurse-led home care service is monitored and supported by our experienced regional nursing teams. Our team of qualified regional nurses are registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Each holds a registered nursing qualification in at least one nursing specialism, including general adult nursing, learning and disability nursing, mental health nursing and children’s nursing. They enable the planning and delivery of safe and effective complex care to our clients, which is focused on ensuring the best possible care experience for our clients and their families.

Our nurses work in partnership with our care coordinators, carers, clients and families to identify specific care needs and plan the most appropriate care provision, whilst ensuring all our carers have the skills they need to deliver high standards of nurse-led care. They also provide families with ongoing advice and continual support to ensure they feel reassured about the service we provide.

PROVIDING REASSURANCE FOR JAMES’ FAMILY

James was involved in a road traffic accident where he was ejected through the passenger window of a car, resulting in him sustaining a brain injury.

PROVIDING REASSURANCE FOR JAMES’ FAMILY

James was involved in a road traffic accident where he was ejected through the passenger window of a car, resulting in him sustaining a brain injury.

The accident saw James living with several physical and cognitive difficulties, including right-sided weakness affecting how he walked, limited movement in his right arm, speech and language problems and epilepsy.

James lived alone and faced regular epileptic seizures, which were extremely worrying for his family.  When his family engaged Prestige Nursing & Care to support James the team introduced assistive technology.  This technology would allow his family to be notified should James experience a seizure, allowing them to respond. He now wears an alarm watch that activates when he is on his own should he have a seizure. The watch is connected to his family’s landline and mobile phones, sending a timely alert should anything happen.  This gives them much-needed reassurance and peace of mind.

He was also living with reduced mobility due to his right-sided weakness.  The introduction of an electronic FES device helped prevent his foot from dropping, by alerting him of incorrect movement.  This enabled James to establish a more normal walking pattern.

With the support of his care team he has been able to improve his movement further using the device, giving him more independence, which in turn has boost his self-esteem and over well-being. James has a regular team of carers who have engaged him in social activities, both in and out of the home.  Being able to participate in the social and physical activities he enjoys has been the focus of his rehabilitation, and he now attends weekly archery lessons with the support of his care team.

WHAT DOES OUR HOME CARE SERVICE INCLUDE FOR THOSE LIVING WITH A BRAIN INJURY?

HOW WE PROVIDE CARE AT HOME FOR THOSE WITH LIVING WITH A BRAIN INJURY

Our trusted and established care at home service can be provided in the following ways for someone living with a brain injury:

  • Hourly care or visiting care is for those who need care and support with tasks of daily living or clinical care at certain times during the day. Care at home can be provided from a 60 minute daily visit to as many hours/visits throughout the day as you require. One day or several days of the week depending on your care and support needs. For those who have complex needs, hourly care can be provided over a 24 hour period, 7 days a week.
  • Respite care for those needing a short-term arrangement after hospital discharge during rehabilitation or when a family carer needs a break from their caring role. It is also an ideal service for families who wish to assess whether care at home is the right care choice for them.

CARE MANAGEMENT LOCAL TO YOU

Our responsive and reliable local nurse-led service for those with brain injury care needs means we can put a care pathway and plan in place quickly, in many cases within 24 hours.

We work in partnership with healthcare professionals, case managers, families and personal injury lawyers to ensure we have an in-depth understanding of a client’s needs. Our local registered nurse will conduct a comprehensive assessment of your needs at home, in hospital or any specialist care setting if you are awaiting discharge back to your own home, enabling a plan of care and support to be developed that meets all your needs.

Our approach to care planning, whether it is for an hourly care service, respite care or a permanent live-in care arrangement ensures we meet all your preferences and wishes so you can live a contented life in the comfort of your own home. We take time to find the nursing carer that would best meet your nursing needs, making sure they are closely aligned with how you wish to live your life. Once care is in place, our local teams made up of care and clinical experts provide you, your family and our carer with an abundance of ongoing support, giving you reassurance that you or your loved one is receiving the very best complex care at home.

QUALITY ASSURANCE THROUGH REGULATED SERVICE PROVISION

Prestige Nursing & Care is not an agency. Unlike many other acquired brain injury care providers, we provide a fully managed and regulated care at home service. This means our clients, their families and our professional partners can be reassured that the care and support we provide those living with brain injury is of the very highest quality.

Our service is inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England and the Scottish Care Inspectorate (SCI) in Scotland. We are proud that 96% of our inspected services have been rated as providing a ‘Good’ service, with 4% rated ‘Outstanding’ and all our services in Scotland have been awarded a five-star rating.

Our accredited service for complex care, which meets local and national quality standards and ensures a consistent approach to the care we provide, provides peace of mind and reassurance that our service is of the highest quality.

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COST OF BRAIN INJURY CARE

The cost of brain injury care is dependent on the level of care and support you require. If you are receiving our hourly brain injury care the overall cost will be determined by the number of visits and frequency of visits to you at home. Our experts will conduct a comprehensive assessment of your needs at your home or in hospital if you are awaiting discharge, to truly understand what you need and therefore how much brain injury care at home will cost.

We know that our cost of brain injury care is very competitive when compared with other home care providers.  It is worth noting that when comparing the cost of home care with a care package in a care home, that the fee you pay for home care is actually for the care and support you receive.  In a care home your weekly fee mainly covers your accommodation, food and social activities with the care package being only a small part of what you pay.You may be entitled to either healthcare funding, social care funding or Government funding to contribute to the cost of brain injury care.  If you are faced with having to finance your own home care (known as self-funding care), there are initiatives available to you, including care fees annuities or equity release schemes that could provide the funds you need for your care and support.

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RESPONSIVE LOCAL TEAMS WITH NATIONWIDE COVERAGE

We are providing care and support to those needing brain injury care in over 30 locations in the heart of communities across England and Scotland. The fully managed service we provide is highly responsive and our experts local to you can put care packages in place quickly, working in collaboration with local healthcare professionals, multidisciplinary teams, therapeutic care providers and other community support services. We know this holistic approach ensures our clients get the best out of life, for all of life.

Find a care service near you

Find out why our clients choose Prestige Nursing & Care for a high quality, responsive home care service.

ACQUIRED BRAIN INJURY CARE FAQS

USEFUL RESOURCES

There are several organisations and charities in the UK that support those who are living with brain injury, including Headway, the Children’s Trust and The Silverlining Brain Injury Charity.

We are here to take your call and will provide impartial support and guidance – contact our friendly care experts today to discuss your brain injury care and support needs.


0808 239 1525