Norfolk Adult Epilepsy Specialist Nurse Team

We are a small multidisciplinary team (MDT) comprising occupational therapy, clinical neuropsychology, a rehabilitation technician and a service coordinator. The ABI service have expertise in the area of brain injury and provide person-centred, individualised rehabilitation services working within local and national evidence based guidelines.

People experiencing an acquired brain injury do not have an easily defined and predictable road to recovery. At different stages following injury they may need an individualised rehabilitation package to enable them to reach their optimum recovery.

An ABI may have been caused by an event such as: 

• trauma such as an assault, road traffic accident
• cerebral anoxia - lack of oxygen to the brain due to a medical emergency such as heart attack
• complex cerebral vascular accident such as stroke or haemorrhage
• infection such as encephalitis, or meningitis
• non progressive tumour

We accept referrals from healthcare and social care professionals. 

Once a referral has been received with the required medical and social history, a member of the ABI Service will be allocated to offer an assessment.

The patient can be seen with their family at the hospital, in their home or any other clinical setting.

Eligibility criteria

We provide a service to adults who:

• are aged 18 years old and older who are registered with a Bedfordshire GP
• have sustained a significant acquired brain injury, which is evidenced by scans and medical records
• are likely to have had a loss of consciousness for longer than 30 minutes, been disorientated and confused for more than a day, had a Glasgow Coma Score of less than 8 or a loss of concurrent (ongoing) memory

People with a mild or moderate brain injury will be considered on a case by case basis for provision of community rehabilitation based on need.