Time for Change 2022 national ABI strategy update
What's the latest on the UK Government's national acquired brain injury plan? Find out from the people leading it!
It's been seven months since the Government called for evidence for a national acquired brain injury (ABI) strategy.
It wanted to hear from anyone affected by ABI, including brain injury survivors, carers, family members, charities, and professionals.
Their knowledge and experiences will help to shape the ABI strategy and ensure it effectively supports all ABI survivors.
That includes their health and social needs, housing, employment opportunities, and benefits.
The Government's decision to put in place a national ABI strategy came in December 2021.
It followed a campaign [1] championed by MP Chris Bryant and supported by the UK's leading brain injury support groups, including the UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF), Headway, The Children's Trust, the Disabilities Trust and the Child Brain Injury Trust.
Now, UKABIF offers the perfect chance to discover the latest developments in the national ABI strategy - from the people leading them!
Summit up
Join Rhondda MP Chris, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for ABI (APPG-ABI) and Eleanor Parry, ABI Strategy Lead, for an update at UKABIF's Time for Change Summit 2022.
The annual conference marks the progress being made since the first Time for Change Report by the APPG-ABI in 2018 highlighted the gaps in ABI support nationally.
Other neurorehabilitation and neurodiversity experts offering updates at the conference include:
- UKABIF Chair, Professor Andrew Bateman
- Neurodiversity Policy Lead from the Ministry of Justice, Dr Stephanie Gibb
- Priya Oomahdat, Deputy Director of Rehabilitation, Discharge and Community Services for NHS England and NHS Improvement
- Dr Mark Holloway, Brain Injury Case Manager and Expert Witness
But there will be much more than ABI strategy news at the conference at The Lowry Hotel in Salford, Manchester, next month.
You can also find out who the winners are of this year's UKABIF Awards aimed at raising awareness of the impact of brain injury.
The award categories are:
- UKABIF Film Award
- Mike Barnes Award for Innovation
- UKABIF Poster Award
- Stephen McAleese Award for Inspiration
In 2021, the UKABIF Film Award winner was Nichola Leyland with her moving personal story of how a freak accident left her son with a brain injury and the family feeling helpless.
The emotional turmoil of my boy and of myself; the impossible entwining of pain, sleepless nights and agonized days. Ambiguous grief. 
Nichola Leyland
Read more about Nichola's experience here: 12-day Krysalis Neuro OT Christmas Countdown 2021 (krysalisconsultancy.co.uk)
Further details about UKABIF's Time for Change Summit 2022 on the 7th of November are available here: United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum (ukabif.org.uk)
References
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