Someone is admitted to hospital every 90 seconds with an Acquired Brain Injury; a leading cause of death and disability affecting more than 1.3 million people and costing £15 billion to the UK economy each year. Helen Hobbs, Director and Co-Founder of Hobbs Rehabilitation met with Steve Brine MP and Chloe Hayward for the ABI Strategy Bill Reception at the Houses of Parliament recently.
Over 50 MPs attended along with patients and other parties, who were able to get their voice heard and share their messages around access to rehabilitation and other services.
The Government agreed to implement a national Acquired Brain Injury Strategy following a campaign by Sir Chris Bryant MP. He secured a Private Members’ Bill and ahead of its second reading in the Commons in December 2021, the Government gave the green light for a cross departmental strategy.
UKABIF, (UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum) along with a number of other brain injury organisations and charities, have supported Sir Bryant in the past to add weight to the campaign, with Hobbs attending the Time for Change launch Reception at Westminster back in 2019.
Chloe Hayward, Executive Director of UKABIF, said: “We are acutely aware of how much this Strategy is needed and what a difference it will make to better supporting people with an acquired brain injury.”
Helen Hobbs comments “It is paramount that this vulnerable group of patients’ needs are being recognised and we really believe that we can influence and bring change with real benefits to those who need them. Our passion for improving neuro rehabilitation services is the very reason we set up Hobbs Rehabilitation 18 years ago. We are extremely proud of the service we provide both at our intensive residential rehabilitation centres, outpatient centres and in the community. Enabling people to get back to their families and to their everyday lives is at the heart of what we do.”
Our Dorset business has expanded; as well as a thriving community service including our work alongside NHS Dorset ICB, we now provide outpatient rehabilitation at Bournemouth University SportBU (Talbot Campus) with access to the SportBU fitness suite during therapy sessions.
Our specialist multidisciplinary team of therapists includes occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and neuropsychologists to deliver:
Specialist and individualised assessment and treatment
Vestibular rehabilitation
Functional skills such as dressing, cooking, developing routine
Fatigue management
Advice on equipment, seating & wheelchairs
Upper limb rehabilitation with exercises, NMES (Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation) and splinting
Detailed assessment of clients’ cognitive, behavioural and emotional states
Cognitive rehabilitation to work on areas such as memory, attention, sequencing, planning, & problem solving
Advice on assistive technology to support communication and accessing your mobile phone, tablet or compute
Dysphagia (swallowing difficulty) assessment & rehabilitation
Communication assessment & rehabilitation
We provide goal focussed rehabilitation in the environment that best suits our clients needs including; our outpatient clinic, client’s homes, and local community settings (e.g. care home, local gyms/swimming pools). In addition, we have access to neurotechnology including; Odstock Pace XL, MicroStim & Gripable.
Nicky Jeffries, Specialist Neurological Physiotherapist leading the service tells us ”We are excited to expand our services to Dorset residents and can now offer both community visits and an outpatient clinic at SportBU. To book, please email [email protected] or call 01962 779796.”
John Morrish from Moveo Walks visited MiNT HQ at our Intensive Neurotherapy Centre in Bristol to showcase ExoBand.
ExoBand is a walking brace consisting of a belt and two leg loops. These three independent elements are connected to each other by a mechanism that stores the energy generated in the first phase of the gait cycle to return it in the second phase, thus enhancing the thrust of the hip flexors and consequently leading to a functional improvement in walking.
Supported by Technical Lead, Simone Cimino in Italy, our interdisciplinary team of therapists enjoyed learning how to fit and use the ExoBand in their therapy sessions. We’re excited to announce that we are among the first clinics in the south of England to have ExoBand available to our patients throughout June and July.
ExoBand has been developed for individuals who want to improve their mobility. It is currently used by patients with different types of motor impairment that are living with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and stroke.
How can you get involved?
Existing Patients
Patients are encouraged to trial ExoBand in their therapy sessions and book an additional 1 hour, 1-1 therapy session to use the equipment further.
New Patients
If you aren’t an existing patient but would like to book a 1 hour, 1-1 therapy session using ExoBand, please complete a Contact Form on our website.
Interested in collaborating? Please visit the Industry Page on the MiNT website.
We invite patients to get hands-on with neurotechnology, functional task practice, sensory work and fine motor dexterity tasks for the upper limb.
Laura Marriot, Specialist Occupational Therapist Neurotechnology Lead at Hobbs Winchester comments: “The group is aimed at patients living with a neurological condition that impacts and reduces the movement of their upper limb. In a social environment at our outpatient setting in Winchester, we create the opportunity for increased repetition with specific movements by using a combination of neurotechnology and traditional therapy techniques. The increased repetitions increase function in our patients’ upper limb and ultimately, assist them in reaching their individual goals. As well as receiving support from specialist therapists when attending the sessions, we provide insight and feedback on recommended exercises and therapy techniques that our patients can use at home without supervision, and will follow up on the individuals’ experience in our group sessions. Along with providing physical support to patients, I am hoping the group will allow individuals living with similar neurological conditions to meet one another, share their stories and support one another by building on the existing Hobbs community that we all know and love.”
Kirsti Pretty
PR & Marketing Lead
