Sir, – Less than one in 10 adult victims of major trauma in Ireland are discharged to rehabilitation services. A report published this week by the National Office of Clinical Audit showed that the figure for child trauma patients is 1 per cent.
Patients are receiving life-saving treatment, only to face a postcode lottery of patchy and often non-existent rehabilitation services.
This year marks 10 years since the publication of the National Neurorehabilitation Strategy, with a commitment to put in place nine new community teams and address the critical shortage of inpatient beds. Ten years on, only two teams have been funded and less than 30 of the 150 beds needed introduced. The only investment has been in the east of the country despite the lack of services in Cork, Galway and other regional centres.
This week, National Brain Awareness Week, serves to highlight a decade of broken promises for sufferers of acquired brain and spinal injuries and their families. – Yours, etc,
MAGDALEN ROGERS,
Executive Director,
Neurological Alliance
of Ireland,
Coleraine House.
Dublin 7.