ABI Strategy round-up
ABI Strategy round-up with ‘Knight of the Rhondda Table’, Sir Chris!
Rally your MP and join the newly made ‘Knight of the Rhondda Table’, Sir Chris Bryant MP, on the quest to make the UK’s Acquired Brain Injury Strategy a reality.
Sir Chris’s knighthood, announced in the New Year’s Honours List, was in recognition of the Rhondda MP’s ‘political and public service’, including his work for the brain injury community.
Now, he and a fellow member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Acquired Brain Injury (APPG-ABI), Sir John Hayes, are to host a reception in Parliament to give an update on the ABI Strategy’s progress.
And anyone interested in securing effective brain injury rehabilitation services in the UK is welcome to go – especially if they can bring along their local Member of Parliament too! (Find out how below.)
It has been a real collective effort […], and it is wonderful to see that collaboration pay off. There is much work to do before the ABI Strategy is implemented… 
Sir Chris Bryant, MP [2]
The ABI Strategy would prove life-changing for the one million-plus individuals and families affected by acquired brain injury in the UK [1].
It would ensure that brain injury treatment, care and rehabilitation are effective and equally provided across the UK.
And that includes health and social care, housing, employment opportunities, and welfare benefits.
It would also help to reduce the £15 billion bill [1] currently being faced by the NHS every year to meet costs arising from traumatic brain injury (TBI) alone. Other ABIs are not included in the calculation by the UK think tank Centre for Mental Health.
The costs cover the continuing disability and health and social care needs that could have been avoided through effective treatment, care or rehabilitation.
And they include the lost work contributions and lost production due to premature death that may also have been prevented.
The impact the strategy would have on the day-to-day lives of every person affected by brain injury is, of course, incalculable.
But it has attracted massive support from brain injury survivors and their family members, carers, charities, and professionals supporting them.
As a result, the strategy was agreed upon by the Government in December 2021, and since then, the people putting this immense plan in place have been meeting weekly to work on it.
They include representatives from:
- The ABI Strategy Patient and Public Group
- Brain injury charities - Headway, The Children's Trust, The Disabilities Trust, and the Child Brain Injury Trust.
- UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF)
- Neurological Alliance
- All-Party Parliamentary Group for Acquired Brain Injury
- Five Government departments and two ministries
- NHS England
- The Scottish and Welsh governments
Now, you can meet some of the ABI Strategy team to share your thoughts on the mission or share your experiences or ideas.
Sir Chris and Sir John will be hosting the meeting at the Houses of Parliament in London on the afternoon of the 10th of May [*]. And to strengthen support and widen awareness, you can ask your local MP to go too.
UKABIF has all the details and even a template letter you can download to send to MPs to invite them along. A link to MP’s email addresses is also given. Find out more and book your place here: Acquired Brain Injury Bill Reception - UKABIF
[*] Please note the reception was rescheduled from the 1st of February 2023 due to UK-wide strike action.
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