The government’s Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Strategy is on the horizon, but will it deliver the meaningful change that people living with acquired brain injury need and want to see?

We see it everyday - the devastating aftermath of a lack of appropriate, person-centred support for people who have courageously (and often seemingly miraculously) survived life-threatening brain injuries. Incredible medical care has advanced so far that the lives of so many people, who previously wouldn't have survived their brain injuries, are saved. However the landscape of support and rehabilitation has not caught up. It remains insufficient, to the detriment of individuals' recoveries and the wellbeing of those who love them. 

A focus group of Headway Nottingham clients confirms this - when asked to reflect on their brain injury journey, none had been offered professional emotional support post medical discharge, and all agreed that their post-injury lives and those of their loved ones would have been significantly improved with access to brain injury specialised support and to peers who understood their experiences. 

Ask the Chancellor to allocate funding for ABI

In our city and county, our small charity provides the only specialised brain injury support available without a time limit and for as long as each person needs us. Sadly, as the public purse tightens, little available funding prohibits development of our services as fast as we and our clients need and want. 

Seizing the opportunity presented by the impending budget, charities Headway - the brain injury association (the national arm of our network), the Child Brain Injury Trust, UKABIF (United Kingdom Brain Injury Forum) and Brainkind have written an open letter to the Chancellor asking him to allocate funding to support the implementation of the government's Acquired Brain Injury Strategy. Read more about the strategy here.

You can add your voice to this important campaign by visiting Headway - the brain injury association's website and completing the very short form. This is where to go - add your voice here.

Recognition of brain injury-related disability through appropriate funding is long overdue, but you can support this important campaign. A properly funded and carefully implemented Acquired Brain Injury strategy is no more than our clients, and those we'll support in the future, deserve. 

Ask the Chancellor to allocate funding for ABI