UKABIF Time for change summit 2024

 

The 2024 UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) Summit, held at The Lowry in Salford, attracted a record audience for a full  programme of expert speakers.

UKABIF Chair of Trustees, Professor Andrew Bateman and Trustee James Piercy welcomed the 350 delegates to the day before  Labour activist and Chief of Staff, NatasaPantelic gave the opening presentation. As well as providing an overview of the current situation following the recent General Election,  Natasa spoke passionately about how we can all affect change and offered top tips on engaging with MPs to raise awareness of Acquired Brain Injury. Her main messages were ‘Parliament belongs to you’ and ‘change can take a long  time but the journey is never wasted’.

The power of telling patient stories in working to improve the lives of people living with an Acquired Brain Injury was the focus of an inspirational session by Kate  Tantam , a Specialist Sister in ICU in Plymouth. She addressed the Summit via video highlighting the hugely successful #Rehablegend campaign which she founded to share patient stories to improve patient experience, support quality improvement and raise the importance of rehabilitation.

Experts by experience were at the very heart of the Summit and Debbie Butler spoke about her experience with depression and brain injury and how she uses her lived experience to influence and help direct research. She told the delegates  ‘get patients involved in what you do - it will inspire you to carry on’. 

Professor Rui Loureiro, Research Director at the National Rehabilitation Centre in Nottingham, gave a fascinating insight into the work and aspirations of the Centre’s Research  Programme. The programme focuses on three core themes: prehabilitation and prevention, acute rehabilitation and longer-term rehabilitation.

As well as hearing from the line-up of speakers throughout the day, delegates had the opportunity to speak to almost 40 exhibitors including legal firms, physiotherapists, charities and tech companies who offered a wealth of information, advice and goodies for the attendees.

Kevin Quartley, who sustained a brain injury following a fall at work in 2017, shared his recovery journey. It was another powerful personal testimony as he spoke about the importance of having a good team around you as well as setting goals to work towards. 

Functional symptoms after a head injury was the focus of Dr Mike Dilley’s presentation. The Consultant Neuropsychiatrist at King’s College Hospital spoke about the importance of diagnosing functional symptoms to ensure appropriate approaches to rehabilitation. Dr Dilley is also part of the Brain & Mind team, a partnership between neurology, neuropsychiatry and specialist neurological and psychological therapies.

The final session of the morning again highlighted the importance of centring  the patient perspective. Dr Virginia Newcombe, Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine, based at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, brought home the prevalence of brain injury citing one in two people will present to their GP with a ‘mild’ brain injury. She also spoke of the  much needed reclassification for Traumatic Brain Injury which is expected in the coming months. It will see the removal of the currently used ‘mild’, ‘moderate’ and ‘severe’. 

She was joined by TBI patient co-investigator Joanne Lloyd who spoke via video about her involvement with the BRaINS -TBI Research. Joanne suffered a concussion a number of years ago and hopes the research she is involved in will help others in the future and she reiterated the importance of putting patients at the heart of research at every stage. 

The afternoon session opened with an incredibly moving, humourous and informative talk by identical twins Luke and Ellis Parry. Luke suffered a traumatic brain injury in  2012 and he gave an insight into his long recovery journey saying it needs ‘time, effort, love and support’. The brothers founded the ‘ neumind  app’ and explained how digital tech can play a positive role in rehabilitation. Their app includes nudges, reminders and trackers all tailored to meet individual needs. 

Dr Caroline Bald, Chair of Brain Injury Social Work Group and lecturer at the University of Essex; Dr Alyson Norman, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Plymouth and Kate Mellor, Expert by Experie nce and Hospital Liaison Hospital Facilitator, joined together to discuss social work and brain injury.

They spoke about Heads Together, the UK’s first brain injury social work training programme and emphasised the importance of learning from lived experience.

The programme closed with a panel discussion on improving outcomes for people with an acquired brain injury featuring Dr Krystyna Walton, a Consultant in Neurorehabilitation at Salford Royal Foundation Trust; Dr Mike Dilley, Consultant Neuropsychiatrist in Brain Injury at King’s College Hospital; Paul Brown, a Partner at Burnetts Solicitors and Paul Kirtley a Barrister at Exchange Chambers. 

To address trying to change inequitable access to rehabilitation they said we all need to be vocal about gaps in service, raise awareness, know who is within your Integrated Care Board and pull together to have a collective voice.

The Summit, sponsored by Irwin Mitchell, Cygnet Health Care, Slater and Gordon Lawyers, and Leigh Day, was preceded by a wonderful fundraising dinner the evening before where the winners of the annual UKABIF Awards were announced. 

The Awards, sponsored by Thompsons Solicitors, saw the Stephen McAleese Award for Inspiration go to two deserving people. Claudia Laird who was nominated by After Matters who support young people living with a brain injury. Claudia was diagnosed with a brain  tumour  at the age of 24 and during recovery she remained determined to complete her nursing degree. She now works as a  paediatric nurse at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. 

Mike Howarth was the joint winner. Mike suffered a brain injury and upper limb amputation following a motorcycle accident in 2019. After undergoing intensive rehabilitation at STEPS, he is now a trustee for STEPS Rehabilitation Foundation which  is dedicated to providing support and funding for individuals recovering from complex trauma injuries and illness.

The Mike Barnes Award for Innovation was awarded to Recallify - an AI-powered tool which can transcribe and  summarise conversations. It has been designed by Dr Sarah Rudebeck  and Dr Berkan  Sesen.

The Poster Award went to Dr Henk Swanepoel, from Cygnet Health Care. The poster was entitled ‘Correlation study between the Free Cog and Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE-III) within Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) population. 

Chloe Hayward, Chief Executive of UKABIF, said:

“We are delighted to have hosted another incredible Summit bringing together such a fantastic line-up of expert speakers. As always, their knowledge and experience was inspiring to hear and learn from.”

“As well as the programme of speakers, the Summit is always a wonderful opportunity for delegates to make new connections which can only help in our commitment to improving the lives of everyone with an acquired brain injury. Thank you to everyone who came along - together we are making positive changes.”

Information about the UKABIF Summit for 2025 will be available soon – please email  admin@ukabif.org.uk if you are interested in securing an exhibition space.