Some 10,000 people suffer head or brain trauma every year in Ireland, but the injury is still not recognised as a distinct or unique disability by the health authorities and there is no national strategy for support services, a leading victims' group claimed today.
The Peter Bradley Foundation said it continues to find people with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) wrongly placed in psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes because of a lack of understanding of the condition and inadequate support services.
The foundation's chief executive officer Barbara O'Connell said: "It is possible for people with an ABI to regain a measure of independent living if given the proper support services."
Ms O'Connell was speaking at the launch the foundation's Mind Your Headawareness campaign which seeks to highlight the serious consequences of not wearing protective headgear when cycling and working.
The first stage of the campaign will focus on cyclists and what the foundation describes as "the widespread complacency that exists towards bicycle helmets".
The World Health Organization estimates that the chances of serious head trauma and lifelong disabilities can be reduced by 69 per cent when a helmet is worn during a collision.
"The problem is that the Department of Health does not recognise ABI as a distinct disability group," Ms O'Connell said. "We need that recognition so that a national strategy for support services can be developed and separate funding provided through the HSE to facilitate the implementation of that strategy."
The European average is 2.8 rehabilitation physicians per 100,000 people but in Ireland there are just 0.15 consultants per 100,000 people.
"Based on Dutch standards we should have 74 consultants, today we have just six in place", Dr Mark Delargy, consultant in rehabilitation medicine in the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) says.
Dr Delargy said that at the start of 2007 there were over 120 ABI patients on the waiting list for access to the NRH.
"Waiting times can be three to six months depending on the complexity of the injury and, for minimally conscious brain injury patients we are seeing waiting times of around 18 months for access to the NRH's high dependency unit during which time they must remain in acute hospitals," he said.
Brain injuries typically occur as a result of road accidents and falls but can also be caused by viral infection or stroke.
