As we look forward to 2021, we have conducted our usual review at the beginning of the business year to ensure we fully meet the needs of our patients, their families, and the professional support networks behind them.
Beginning on 23rd March last year every member of our team has successfully transitioned to home working and continue to provide a rehabilitation service to those living with Acquired Brain Injury and complex needs in our community.
The team have demonstrated a versatile, creative and pragmatic approach which has enabled many of our patients to continue to achieve their rehabilitation goals despite the challenges and restrictions of the current & ever changing landscape.
We have invested in state-of-the-art IT equipment , digital remote access, cloud based systems and a large update to our internal data portal which are all secure and GDPR compliant. As we move forward in 2021 this will enable us as a business to support our creative and innovative physiotherapists and occupational therapists to continue to develop and evolve community rehabilitation and remote therapy resources for patients living with acquired brain injury (ABI).
As a team we are positively focussed on developing our service to meet the needs of our current and future patients. Community rehabilitation services need to evolve and respond positively to the needs of patients living with ABI. Our understanding of technology and digital resources have taken a massive step forward and whilst face to face rehabilitation and support is essential and key to supporting our patient’s progress, the lessons learned will enable us to proactively address some of the problems faced by many survivors of ABI.
As a team across a large geographical area one of our challenges, like many people living with ABI, was that team members could feel isolated. Technology has made our team more collaborative and engaged. Rehabilitation should always be a collaborative process and optimising patient engagement is key to supporting their progress. Rehabilitation is about regaining and supporting independence, investing in and digitalising our resources has empowered our therapists to think differently about how they can optimise a patient’s independence. Face to face sessions support patients to develops a skill, remote sessions enable a therapist to take a step away and enable a patient to take ownership of the skill.
Learning to utilise technology to support and enhance face to face contact has positively progressed our rehabilitation services. As we evolve and develop our community services further, this will put us in a stronger position to continue to support the development of patients and our team members. As we firmly believe rehabilitation should happen in our communities, to support our brain injured patients to interact and engage in meaningful activities again.
We have received a high number of referrals and our decision to ensure we maintain the high standards we set ourselves means in 2021 our focus will be on case managed adults and children with brain injury and complex needs requiring community rehabilitation. Our Physiotherapists are working across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, South and West Yorkshire and our Occupational Therapists in Greater Manchester, Cheshire & Lancashire.