When an individual sustains a brain injury as a result of an accident, it is a traumatic and confusing time. It not only affects the injured individual but it has a large impact on close family members too, who will be unfamiliar about the effects of a traumatic brain injury and how best to offer support.
Getting the right practical, medical, financial and legal help as early as possible, is essential. There are so many threads to follow it’s difficult for families to navigate the priorities. Those priorities will also be dictated by the severity and nature of the brain injury, as individuals will be in different situations.
As well as medical assistance from your GP, hospital or the 111 service, there are other organisations which can help in the initial phases but also in the longer term.
Charities and Practical Support
The national brain injury charity, Headway, run a dedicated helpline with specialist advisors. The Headway helpline number is 0808 800 2244. Find out more here.
Another outlet of support and guidance is the Brain Injury Group. They provide a wealth of information and signposting to help those who have been injured and their loved ones. Find out more here and their helpline number is 03300 569 510.
If a child has had a brain injury, then the Children’s Brain Injury Trust (CBIT) are a specialist charity in that regard. Find out more here and their brain injury support contact number is 0303 303 2248.
Legal Support
If someone has a brain injury following an accident, it is strongly recommended that they seek legal advice from a specialist brain injury solicitor to see if they have a claim.
It is vital to do research before selecting who to approach. It’s important that those with the brain injury feel comfortable and in control before letting in others to help them. They have sustained a life changing injury, and could be working with the lawyers they choose for a long time.
Sintons have a specialist brain injury team who can offer that personal, specialist advice. We appear in the Headway Solicitors Directory confirming that we have demonstrated expertise in this area.
Alongside the above directory, many of our team appear individually in the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), “Find an Injury Lawyer” webpage. This search function on APIL, enables you to find lawyers who are accredited as “brain injury” specialists in their field.
Sintons colleagues who hold APIL accreditations as either a “Senior Litigator” and/or “Brain Injury specialist” include:
Having instructed a solicitor to assist you with a claim, this should then open up the door to further support. That might include accessing help with applying for welfare benefits, obtaining interim payments through the personal injury claim to fund private rehabilitation to maximise recovery, or to help financially if there is a loss of earnings due to not being able to work.
