Brain Injury Care at Home

Yes. We provide regulated care at home for adults living with the effects of a brain injury, whether from a head injury, stroke, tumour, haemorrhage or infection. Support ranges from short daily visits to full live-in care.

Yes, and we plan around them deliberately. We time visits for the hours that work, break tasks down rather than rushing them, and keep routines consistent so less has to be held in mind.

Yes. We can put support in quickly after discharge and step it back as confidence returns, rather than committing you to more than you need. Our guide to coming home after a brain injury covers the first weeks.

Yes. Brain injury frequently affects working-age people, and support is shaped around work, children and independence rather than an older person’s template.

Irritability, frustration and low mood are common after a brain injury. Our carers work calmly and consistently to the plan agreed with you and your treating team. Where someone’s needs are primarily behavioural or psychological, we will say so honestly and help you find the right service.

No. We are registered for personal care, so we do not carry out clinical or nursing tasks such as ventilation, tracheostomy or PEG feeding. We will tell you plainly if needs go beyond what we can provide, and can work alongside a nursing provider where one is involved.

Yes. We take referrals from case managers, professional deputies and attorneys, work to their care plan, and can recruit and supervise a dedicated team around one client. Our guide to working with a brain injury case manager explains how that arrangement works in practice.

No. There are no long-term or fixed-term contracts, and every package carries our 90-day risk-free guarantee: you can cancel at any time.

Headway, the brain injury association, describes an acquired brain injury as an injury caused to the brain since birth. For example, causes include falls, road accidents, assaults, strokes, tumours, haemorrhages and infections. A traumatic brain injury is one that a blow to the head causes. In practice, we support adults living with the effects of any of these, and the plan starts from the effects rather than the cause.

Yes, for the east and north of the county. Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust runs a neuro community rehabilitation team from the Danesbury Neurological Centre in Welwyn, and it includes a specialist acquired brain injury service for adults with a consultant diagnosis. Referrals come through a GP, a hospital or another health professional, and the team is on 0300 123 7571. For St Albans, Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead and the rest of west Hertfordshire, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust runs community neuro rehabilitation through the Hertfordshire single point of access on 03000 200 656. Our guide to brain injury support in Hertfordshire sets out the full route, including specialist inpatient rehabilitation.

Yes. Headway Hertfordshire is the county's brain injury charity, based in Hitchin and reached on 0300 330 1455. In addition, it 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. Headway UK also issues a free Brain Injury Identity Card to adults with a verifiable brain injury, which can help in everyday situations and with the police.

It depends on the person's needs and circumstances. Where someone has ongoing health needs, they may qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare, which the NHS arranges and funds in full, including at home. Where there is a personal injury claim, a case manager usually arranges the care, and the settlement or an interim payment funds it. Otherwise, families fund care privately or through a council care needs assessment and Direct Payments. Our guides to NHS Continuing Healthcare, Direct Payments in Hertfordshire and care funding explain each route.

Yes. In addition, many people leave hospital with a rehabilitation plan or prescription, and where a case manager is involved they coordinate it. We work to that plan, keep the daily record they need, join reviews where invited and, with consent, share what carers notice between appointments. We can also recruit and supervise a dedicated team around one client, which is often what a settlement funded package needs. There is more detail in our guide to working with a brain injury case manager.

Less doing and more prompting than people expect. First, we pace personal care to the day. Beyond that, the carer helps someone start a task they know how to do, breaks it into steps, keeps a checklist and a routine, and keeps the things the person uses in one place. Headway recommends exactly these strategies for the initiation and planning problems that follow a brain injury. As a result, the person keeps doing more for themselves, and the carer records what changes for the treating team.

Headway describes fatigue after brain injury as an extreme tiredness that sleep and rest do not relieve. So we plan the week around energy, not around the clock. For example, we time visits for the hours that work, put demanding tasks early in the day, and build rest in rather than squeezing it in. Similarly, we watch for the early signs the person and their family recognise, and we set realistic targets for a day rather than catching up on a good one.

Yes. Headway makes the point that after a brain injury it is not that someone will not remember, but that they cannot. Therefore, the plan uses external aids rather than relying on memory: a diary or memory book, a calendar in one place, written lists, alarms for medication and appointments, and the same small team so nothing has to be explained from the beginning each time.