Forum urges rehabilitation services

From: Rachel McLafferty, Deputy Chair, Yorkshire Acquired Brain Injury Forum.

I AM writing in response to the proposed job losses at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the subsequent comments made by Mr Jake Timothy, a neurosurgeon at the hospital, in which he criticises the “chronic” lack of cash for stroke victims’ physiotherapy as well as the shortfall in rehabilitation services for people following a stroke or head injury in Leeds.

The Yorkshire Acquired Brain Injury Forum (YABIF) is the regional group of the United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum and we are campaigning for better rehabilitation services for people following an acquired brain injury (ABI).

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Our Manifesto Life after Brain Injury – A Way Forward outlines our urgent demands:

Appropriate commissioning for specialist brain injury rehabilitation should be made compulsory and each clinical commissioning group should have a named neurological lead.

Funded National Neuro 
Networks should be established to ensure neurological pathways are available throughout the stages of recovery (patient journey)

A National Audit of Rehabilitation should be carried out and the collection and reporting of accurate data on newly ABIs made compulsory by all providers along the patient journey, from Acute to Community services.

From: Anne Veart, Apley Close, Harrogate.

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AS someone who has diabetes, I am writing to let the readers of the Yorkshire Post know that National Inpatient Diabetes Audit shows that Harrogate District Hospital does not have a specialist diabetes footcare team that can prevent amputations in people with the condition.

People with diabetes are over 20 times more likely to have a lower limb amputation than the rest of the population, but up to 80 per cent of these amputations could be prevented.

One of the ways they can be prevented is through hospitals having one of these specialist teams, Called multi-disciplinary footcare teams.

Having access to one of these teams within 24 hours can mean that foot problems in people with diabetes do not deteriorate so badly that an amputation is needed and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends that hospitals have them.

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I am very concerned that Harrogate District Hospital does not have one of these teams because they can literally mean the difference between keeping 
a foot and losing it. This is why I am calling for the Trust to introduce one of these teams as 
a matter of urgency and hope 
that all your readers can support this campaign by writing to Richard Ord, chief executive of Harrogate District Hospital, requesting that a footcare team is set up without delay.

Need for food in schools

From: Heather Causnett, Escrick Park Gardens, Escrick, York.

I WAS very sorry indeed to learn of the many children who are not receiving sufficient food for their need (Yorkshire Post. September 5).

This is not a new situation, and it is not necessarily lack of money that is the cause – many mothers have neither the will nor the ability to feed their children properly. I was horrified to learn from a friend who works as a school inspector of the number of children arriving at school without having had as much as a hot drink, let alone a decent breakfast – often handed a pound coin and told to “get yourself something to eat” – this is of course usually a chocolate bar or packet of crisps, with the result that the child is too tired to learn anything.

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I think there is an answer, which is to have breakfasts available at school in the same way that lunches are. Surely it would soon prove itself to be well worth the money spent and be a lifeline to many children. The last thing the Government should consider is giving more and more money to mothers who cannot be trusted to feed their children any better – extra cash may well be spent on drink or drugs. When are steps going to be taken to solve this very real and worsening problem?

Job claim disadvantage

From: Alan Thorn, Burr Sugden Solicitors, Devonshire Street, Keighley.

IN her recent article on the proposed changes in employment law, Sarah Tahamtani writes approvingly of the proposed changes in employment law, and in particular states that “it is both sensible and necessary that claimants will have to pay substantial fees out of their own pockets to bring a claim”. She avoids mention of the level of those fees.

To bring a claim for unfair dismissal, a claimant will have to pay an issue fee of £250, and a hearing fee of £950, a total of £1,200. While I do not oppose the introduction of an issue fee in principle, the overall figure is too great. A claim has to be submitted within three months, and a claimant is likely still to be unemployed, and wondering how he might put food on the table. Many, probably most, claimants will not be able to fund even the most well-founded of claims.

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Couple that with the recent change extending the period of qualifiying employment to two years (and if an employer can’t make a judgement on an employee’s suitability within 12 months he is in need of training himself), and we are seeing the end of employment protection in this country. It’s not what Ms Tahamtani suggests, a rebalancing of interests, but the prioritising of commercial interests over all else.

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