David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is estimated that between 10,000 and 13,000 people survive and live with a brain injury each year. People with acquired brain injuries are the largest users of neurorehabilitation services in Ireland, yet these services are severely underfunded. According to the organisation Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, neurorehabilitation enables people with a brain injury to recover and relearn skills to achieve their potential and start to lead their lives again. Neurorehabilitation combines specialised clinical and social care supports and is based on an agreed pathway of care. It is personalised, individualised and evidenced based. Following a brain injury, rehabilitation should be available as a basic right, not on the basis of a postcode lottery.

When a person acquires a brain injury as a result of a fall, an assault, an accident, a stroke or a tumour, he or she needs to relearn the skills of life. Depending on what part of the brain has been injured and the extent of the injury, the person will have to live with different consequences, many of which will be hidden. They may range from physical, sensory and cognitive impairment to psychological and emotional issues.

There is limited recognition in current health policy of people with acquired brain injury as a distinctive group with unique rehabilitation requirements. This must change. As a result of the lack of policy attention and focus, too many people with an acquired brain injury live in highly inappropriate settings such as nursing homes for older people, community hospitals and acute hospitals. In the absence of acquired brain injury services in the community, families struggle to cope. The problem is further compounded if the person with the acquired brain injury is under 18 years of age because services for young people with an acquired brain injury are almost non-existent. Having a serious brain injury is totally life-altering for the person and his or her family. It has significant social and economic consequences for the individual, his or her family and society as a whole. However, life can be made much better following a brain injury if the person has timely access to the range of services he or she needs.

I commend the authors of the motion which I obviously support. All of us want increased investment in the heath service, including in services to support people with acquired brain injuries. The appropriate time to allocate the necessary resources is at budget time. I hope, therefore, that the Government will allocate sufficient resources in next year's budget to provide appropriate settings and the care required by people with an acquired brain injury.

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