Lack of neurorehabilitation teams failing people in Meath
Six years on from the government commitment to deliver nine fully funded community neurological rehabilitation teams across the country, the rollout has been beset by delays, with most areas of the country including Meath still without any access to a team.
That’s according to the Neurological Alliance of Ireland (NAI), the national umbrella body for 40 neurological organisations, who recently met with TDs and Senators at Leinster House, to call for their renewed commitment in delivering on the targets outlined in the 2019 Neurorehabilitation Strategy. As National Brain Awareness Week marks its 20th year (March 10th – 16th), the NAI underscores the urgent need for dedicated community neurorehabilitation teams to address this critical issue.
There is now a notable regional disparity for patients in Meath, as the Midlands is one of only two regions in the country that has yet to receive funding for a community neurorehabilitation team.
The National Neurorehabilitation Strategy published in 2019 committed to delivering specialist community teams and long-term neurorehabilitation services across the country, as well as addressing the shortfall of 171 specialist inpatient neurorehabilitation beds.
Patient advocate, Liam Lynch who lives in Oldcastle discussed the importance of access to neurorehabilitation teams to Oireachtas members. Liam has been living with an acquired brain injury (ABI) since 2017, after being knocked off his bike by a car, during a charity cycle. Despite experiencing multiple side effects afterwards, including memory loss and struggling with work, he only learned that this was due to having an ABI, as part of a check in with his neurologist two years later. He is now retired, and he and his wife are carers for their daughter who has learning difficulties and physical disabilities,
He said:
“From 2017 to 2019 I really struggled with everyday work-related tasks that previously I wouldn’t have thought much about before the accident. In particular online research for the PLC course I was teaching in Dundalk at the time, really caused me problems, and I felt like I was going crazy.
“It was only during a routine check in with my neurologist where I mentioned this struggle and his response that it was to be expected because I was living with an ABI, that everything suddenly made sense. I’d spent two years wondering why this was happening and now I knew why. A change in personnel at his office meant my GP had never received the report which diagnosed the ABI.
“My neurologist introduced me to Acquired Brain Injury Ireland and they’re the only ones providing support to people like me in the area. I spend time in their club house in Navan every week. They’ve given me help with understanding and managing my brain injury.
“One person went out for a cycle that day in 2017 and a different person came back. I won’t recover from the ABI but I have learned to live with this ‘new normal’, now I understand why I am the way I am and I have the support from ABI Ireland.”
Magdalen Rogers, CEO of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland said: “Neurorehabilitation is a vital service to enable people in Meath with neurological conditions to live their day to day lives. We’re calling on the Government to announce a commitment to funding four community neurorehabilitation teams in this year’s Budget. We want to see this commitment during their first 100 days in office, to send a clear signal they intend to deliver on the pledges within the Programme for Government to complete the national rollout of community neurorehabilitation teams and to developing more specialist inpatient rehabilitation beds and implement community based multidisciplinary rehabilitation services in each HSE Regional Health Authority Area”.
NAI is calling for funding in the upcoming Budget for full community neurorehabilitation teams for the North West, North Dublin, South East and Midlands, promised since 2019.
For more information visit: www.nai.ie