Brain injury support in Hertfordshire depends on two things: which side of the county your GP is in, and which stage of recovery you are at. The specialist NHS acquired brain injury service sits within the neuro community rehabilitation team at Danesbury Neurological Centre in Welwyn. In particular, it covers East and North Hertfordshire. If you live in St Albans, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead or Watford, your community rehabilitation runs through a different NHS trust altogether.
Professionals arranging care after a brain injury can read our page for case managers, deputies and solicitors, which covers our registration, reporting and referral route.
Yet families rarely hear this in hospital. In short, it changes who you contact, what you ask for and how long the wait is. This article sets out what exists where and how referrals work. It also shows where Headway Hertfordshire and care at home fit around it.
We are Starling Homecare, a family-run provider registered with the Care Quality Commission. Brain injury is one of the conditions we support people with at home across Hertfordshire. Our role is to arrange care, not to provide treatment, and this article says so plainly throughout.
This article is general information to help families find the right service. It is not medical or legal advice. Every brain injury is different, so please talk to the treating team about your own situation.
What happens first, in hospital?
Most people in Hertfordshire go to Watford General or the Lister in Stevenage, or to a London neurosurgical centre if the injury is severe. Neither Hertfordshire hospital publishes a named brain injury pathway. So the first people to ask are the ward team and the discharge team.
NICE guidance on rehabilitation after traumatic injury says that people should leave hospital with a rehabilitation plan. It may take the form of a rehabilitation prescription or a patient-held rehabilitation passport, with a named rehabilitation coordinator as the lead contact. Therefore, ask for that document by name. After all, it is the thing every later service will want to see.
Where is specialist inpatient rehabilitation for brain injury?
Two units matter most for Hertfordshire families. Danesbury House in Welwyn is Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust's 24-bed inpatient neurological rehabilitation unit. It takes people recovering from stroke, spinal cord injury and acquired or traumatic brain injury, typically for five to six weeks. Referrals come from the acute hospital or a GP through the Transfer of Care Hub. Meanwhile, reception is on 01438 841841.
For the most complex injuries, NHS England commissions the Regional Hyper-acute Rehabilitation Unit at Northwick Park in Harrow as a level 1a unit. It names Hertfordshire among the counties it serves. In addition, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Queen Square runs an 18-bed level 1 unit for adults with acquired brain injury. The treating hospital makes the referral to either, not the family.
Which community team covers you after discharge?
Here is the county split. Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust runs the neuro community therapy and specialist nursing team from Danesbury Neurological Centre, School Lane, Welwyn. It serves adults aged 18 and over with a consultant-diagnosed neurological condition and a GP in East or North Hertfordshire. The team incorporates a specialist acquired brain injury service. Moreover, it includes specialist nurses, clinical psychology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and rehabilitation assistants, and it works at home, in clinics or in groups.
Referrals come from hospitals, GPs, other health professionals and tertiary centres. Self-referral is open only to people the service has seen in the past year. The team is on 0300 123 7571 or [email protected].
If your GP is in west Hertfordshire, which includes St Albans, Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust runs the Community Neuro Rehabilitation Service. GPs refer through the DXS system, for instance. Everyone else goes through the Hertfordshire single point of access on 03000 200 656, choosing option 2 then option 9. Urgent referrals get a response within two working days and routine ones within six weeks. However, the published service list does not name a separate brain injury service. So ask specifically what the team offers for acquired brain injury, and whether psychology is part of it.
What should you ask your GP for?
Three things, in order. First, a referral to the community neuro rehabilitation team for your side of the county, naming acquired brain injury. Second, a copy of the rehabilitation prescription or discharge summary, if you do not already have one. Third, a conversation about NHS Continuing Healthcare if the person's needs are complex. The GP or the discharge team can request the checklist that starts that process.
Where does Headway fit in brain injury support in Hertfordshire?
Headway Hertfordshire is the county's brain injury charity and, in its own words, the only support organisation in the county for people affected by an acquired brain injury. It is based in Hitchin, for example, on 0300 330 1455 or [email protected]. Its peer support groups meet in St Albans, Borehamwood, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, Letchworth, Stevenage, Watford and Welwyn, most of them fortnightly. It also offers carers' support, counselling and memory support, and it raises all of its own funds.
Similarly, Headway UK, the national charity, runs a helpline on 0808 800 2244 and issues a free Brain Injury Identity Card to adults with a verifiable brain injury. The card helps police and others recognise the effects of a brain injury. It usually takes one to two weeks to process. Headway's guidance on the effects of brain injury, fatigue, memory and behaviour is the best plain-English reading available. As a result, we point families to it before anything else.
How is brain injury support in Hertfordshire paid for?
NHS treatment and rehabilitation are free. Care at home, however, is separate, and there are three routes. First, where someone has ongoing health needs, they may qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare, which the NHS arranges and funds in full, including at home. Eligibility depends on need, not diagnosis, across twelve areas that include cognition and behaviour. It starts with a checklist, and then a multidisciplinary team carries out a full assessment. Headway's own guidance is that NHS Continuing Healthcare should fund nursing care where someone qualifies for it.
Second, where there is a personal injury claim, a case manager usually arranges care and the settlement or an interim payment funds it. We have written separately about working with a brain injury case manager. Third, families fund care privately or through a council care needs assessment and Direct Payments. In addition, a means-tested Disabled Facilities Grant may help with adaptations at home. Our guides to NHS Continuing Healthcare, Direct Payments in Hertfordshire and care funding explain each route.
Where does care at home fit?
Around all of it. The NHS teams treat and rehabilitate, while Headway supports. Care at home holds the ordinary week steady so that rehabilitation has somewhere to happen. In practice, that means help with washing and dressing paced to the day, prompting through tasks step by step, meals and medication routines, a consistent routine that protects energy, and a break for the family carer. Where there is a case manager, we work to their plan and keep the record they need.
Starling Homecare arranges visiting brain injury care at home in St Albans, Harpenden, Welwyn Hatfield and Hemel Hempstead, and live-in care across the whole of Hertfordshire. Likewise, our guide to coming home after a brain injury covers the first weeks in more detail. If someone needs residential specialist care instead, Brainkind's Stagenhoe Park near Hitchin is the main specialist neurological care centre inside the county.
Where we support people after a brain injury across Hertfordshire
Whichever NHS service covers your area, Starling Homecare arranges regulated care at home after a brain injury right across the county. The team you speak to is the one that covers your town.
Wherever you are in the county, you reach the team that actually covers your area:
- St Albans, 01727 324 127
- Harpenden, 01582 824 830
- Welwyn Hatfield, 01707 714 000
- Hemel Hempstead, 01442 954 137
- Berkhamsted, 01442 954 137
- Tring, 01442 954 137
- Hitchin, 01462 534739
- Hertford, 01920 746779
- Radlett and Shenley, 01923 988 550
Common Questions About Brain Injury Support in Hertfordshire
Is there an NHS brain injury service in Hertfordshire?
Yes, for the east and north of the county. Specifically, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust's neuro community rehabilitation team at Danesbury Neurological Centre in Welwyn incorporates a specialist acquired brain injury service. It serves adults with a consultant diagnosis and a GP in East or North Hertfordshire. In west Hertfordshire, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust runs community neuro rehabilitation through the single point of access on 03000 200 656.
How do you get referred for brain injury support in Hertfordshire?
Through a GP, the hospital or another health professional. The Welwyn team accepts referrals from hospitals, GPs, health professionals and tertiary centres. Self-referral is open only to people it has seen in the past year. In west Hertfordshire, GPs refer through DXS and others call the single point of access. In both cases, name acquired brain injury and ask what the team offers for it.
Is there a Headway group in Hertfordshire?
Yes. Headway Hertfordshire runs peer support groups in St Albans, Borehamwood, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, Letchworth, Stevenage, Watford and Welwyn, most of them fortnightly, along with carers' support and counselling. It is based in Hitchin on 0300 330 1455.
Does brain injury support in Hertfordshire include care at home?
The NHS teams treat and rehabilitate, but they do not provide day-to-day care. Families arrange care at home separately: through NHS Continuing Healthcare where someone qualifies, through a case manager where there is a claim, or privately or through the council. Starling Homecare arranges visiting care in St Albans, Harpenden, Welwyn Hatfield and Hemel Hempstead, and live-in care across Hertfordshire.
Starting in the right place
Ask which side of the county your GP is on, ask for the rehabilitation prescription, and ask the right community team by name. Then call Headway Hertfordshire as well. Families lose most of their wasted weeks after a brain injury by contacting the wrong service first.
If you would like to talk through what support at home could look like alongside the NHS team, our St Albans office is on 01727 324 127.
Sources checked on 8 September 2026: Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust neuro community therapy service and Danesbury House, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Northwick Park RHRU, UCLH neurorehabilitation, NICE NG211, Headway Hertfordshire, Headway UK, NHS Continuing Healthcare and Brainkind Stagenhoe Park. This is general information, not medical or legal advice.
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2. A home visit and initial consultation
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