Today we (Angela Carter, Elizabeth Hardy, Gareth Pennell and I) attended the Open Day of St Cyrils Rehabilitation Unit. This unit is owned by St George Healthcare Group and is on the site of the Countess of Chester Hospital. As brain injury case managers we were all interested to see what this unit could offer clients.
The morning began with the official opening ceremony performed by Mr David Thompson MBE, who is the currenty Deputy Lieutenant of Cheshire. This was followed by an introduction and welcome by Dr Czarina Kirk, the Consultant Psychiatrist for the unit.
The particular part of the unit that was opened today specialises in treating and rehabilitating people who have experienced a brain injury and are displaying challenging behaviour. It is the first of its kind to specialise in this field in the North West. The unit intends to take referrals from around the country including Northern Ireland. This particular part of St Cyril's has seven beds available but the unit as a whole has twenty beds. All bedrooms are ensuite and are equipped with the latest technology. The Unit also benefits from spacious recreational areas, visiting rooms, cafes, two transitional bungalows, physiotherapy gym, hydrotherapy pool, occupational therapy suites which include a sensory integration room, rehabilitation kitchen, sensory garden, education and IT classroom.
Dr Vanessa Owen gave a presentation entitled "The Interdisciplinary Team and Complex Brain Injury Cases'. She explained that, although there are units specialising in brain injury rehabilitation around the country, not many can cope with challenging behaviour. She explained that the unit intend to get all interested parties involved with the rehabilitation process. This not only includes the interdisciplinary medical, nursing and therapy team but also the family and external services who are likely to be involved with the client in the future. These agencies, in particular, are encouraged to engage with the unit and the service user right at the beginning of the rehabilitation process. Good communication and working together towards a common person centred goal is at the heart of good rehabilitation and something we encourage as brain injury case managers.
I think we can all agree that this is a common sense approach which, apart from achieving effective outcomes for service users, also helps break down barriers between different disciplines.
The final presentation was given by Dr George El-Nimr, Consultant Neuropsychiatrist on Huntingtons Disease. This was an excellent talk explaining eloquently how, in the past, this disease has been classified as primarily a degenerative neurophysical disorder with some cognitive and psychiatric symptoms but that it should really be seen as primarily a degenerative neuropsychiatric and cognitive disorder with physical symptoms in the form of difficulty initiating movement, muscle rigidity and un-coordinated movements. He explained in detail the cause of this genetic disorder and how children as young as two years old can be found to display symptoms. He explained that in the future professionals need to communicate better with each other and work together to provide better care, treatment and rehabilitation for these service users.
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