Headway - The Brain Injury Association is set to relaunch a key
campaign highlighting the urgent need for funding for support
services for people living with the effects of brain injury.
Headway provides information, support, and services to survivors
of brain injury, their families, and carers across the UK. The
charity’s Budget for Brain Injury campaign, first launched ahead
of the spring 2023 budget, calls for urgent funding to support
the delivery of the government’s eagerly awaited Acquired Brain
Injury (ABI) Strategy as well as for essential community-based
rehabilitation services for brain injury survivors.
Following a campaign led by Headway Parliamentary Champion,
, the former Prime Minister,
, announced in 2021 the
government’s commitment to developing a cross-departmental
government strategy on acquired brain injury.
Headway welcomed the progressive move to develop such a strategy,
in the hopes it would ensure brain injury is given the same
attention as other conditions.
Through its Budget for Brain Injury campaign, the charity is now
raising concerns shared by survivors, carers and campaigners
alike, that the strategy won’t deliver the transformative change
needed to improve the lives of brain injury survivors if it is
published without the commitment of new funding.
Sarah Russell, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager at
Headway, said: “Brain injury affects millions of people across
the UK and these affects can last a lifetime.
“We are concerned, that without adequate and dedicated funding,
the strategy may not be fully implemented, meaning an opportunity
to transform the lives of those living with ABI could be missed.”
With the government’s ABI Strategy and the October Spending
Review on the horizon, Headway is urgently seeking assurances
that the government will deliver the meaningful change that
people living with acquired brain injury desperately need.
Sarah continued: “We are deeply concerned that people living with
brain injury are already struggling to access the services they
need in order to rebuild their lives after discharge from
hospital.
“Those early days in acute care are vital in saving lives and
helping people to walk and talk again, but it is also vital that
equal weighting is given to helping people to rebuild their
lives, relearn lost skills and regain a degree of independence
through specialist post-acute support in their own communities.
“Without these services, so much of the early investment in acute
rehabilitation risks being wasted, with survivors unable to reach
their potential and remaining dependant on costly state-funded
support.
“The network of local Headway charities play an essential and
unique role in improving this quality of life through the
specialist work they do, the services they provide and the
support they offer.
“Many of these local charities, which are commissioned by local
health and social care authorities, are already struggling to
stay afloat due to continued pressure on local authority budgets.
“The ABI Strategy simply must address the urgent challenges
facing community-based rehabilitation organisations providing
essential services to individuals living with acquired brain
injury. They are essential partners for the government in
delivering the outcomes of any strategy, but support has to be
forthcoming without further delay.
Headway’s campaign has been supported by other brain injury
charities including Child Brain Injury Trust, UKABIF and
Brainkind, and together they have called on the Chancellor to set
aside much-needed funds for acquired brain injury in the upcoming
Autumn Statement on 22 November 2023.
The charities have published an open letter to the Chancellor and
encouraged the public to sign a pledge card, which focusses on
the often-devastating impact of brain injury to the individual
and those close to them, as well as the significant burden on the
UK economy.
Sarah concluded: “The support we’ve had from other charities, the
brain injury community and wider public to date has been amazing.
“We hope the Chancellor will sit up and take note of the strength
of feeling there is out there about the need for more funding of
vital services for individuals and families living with the
effects of acquired brain injury.”
The Autumn Statement is set to be delivered in November.
