N R news
The charity founded by Emilia Clarke to support fellow brain injury and stroke survivors, SameYou, has secured funding to expand its pioneering NROL programme to comprise remote and in-person rehabilitation. SameYou launched Neuro Rehabilitation Online (NROL) during the pandemic as a means for people recovering from acquired brain injury to continue their therapies when in-person support was not possible. In an audit of its work, NROL – created by SameYou in partnership with University College London (UCL) and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) – was found to have “significantly improved” on the defined outcome measures. Now, through securing £219,859 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, NROL is able to expand beyond its original scope to incorporate a ‘hybrid’ model of multidisciplinary telerehabilitation and face-to-face rehab, both in group and one-to-one settings. The NROL service it has developed with with East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), will now be rolled out through Lancashire and South Cumbria. The county-wide scheme will involve physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, speech and language therapists and medical and assistant practitioners from ELHT, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The expansion steps up SameYou’s commitment to changing access to neurorehabilitation for brain injury survivors even further, inspired by Game of Thrones actor Emilia’s experience of surviving two brain haemorrhages and discovering the lack
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of focus on support for people in such situations. Jenny Clarke, co-founder and CEO of SameYou, said: “The provision of neurorehabilitation after brain injury doesn’t meet the urgent need. “Group telerehab has been proven to add capacity and reach people who are underserved. “The expansion of this scheme would not have been possible without the National Lottery funding. “This grant means that we can continue our work with UCLan and ELHT to support more people and help them take back their places in their families, communities and society after a brain injury.
Therapy services are continuing the process of restoration postC OV I D a n d t h e r e i s a need to understand the learning from online rehabilitation to determine its place in the future “This will make a big difference to people’s lives.” Louise Connell, NROL project lead and UCLan Professor of Allied Health Neurorehabilitation and Stroke, said: “I’m absolutely delighted the
scheme is being rolled out to help more people who’ve had a stroke or have other neurological conditions throughout the region. “Therapy services are continuing the process of restoration post-COVID and there is a need to understand the learning from online rehabilitation to determine its place in the future. “It’s anticipated this will be a hybrid model of face-to-face and virtual input which will allow a greater intensity of therapy to be delivered to more people and in a more convenient way.” One of those who attended the pilot NROL programme was Abdul Malik, who had a brain haemorrhage and seizure at his home in Burnley in May last year. Initially he was unable to speak for two-anda-half weeks and was paralysed down the right-hand side of his body, meaning he could no longer hold his baby son Eesa, who arrived in December 2020. The 37-year-old said: “I attended two NROL sessions a week to help with my upper limb movement and before I started, I struggled to move my arm at all but by the end of the programme I was able to hold my arm across my body, meaning I could hold my son again. “NROL was a lifeline because I was seeing familiar faces twice a week online at a time when COVID-19 was stopping me from seeing anybody outside of my house. “The physios and occupational therapists were very helpful and made us all feel comfortable. “The patients were experiencing the same physical movement problems so our sessions allowed us to talk about our issues and we became friends too.”
