Self-management support following traumatic brain injury Pan London trauma network

Supporting dissemination

This project was given further support through a Spreading Improvement grant to help disseminate learning and maximise the impact of the approach across the health service.

Funding will be used to help spread self-management support after brain injury, from a regional pathway to the pan-London trauma system and beyond. This will be achieved using a variety of approaches including; training sessions for novice staff from each of the further three London Major Trauma Centres, the production of a teaching film showing the adoption and adaption of self-management support, and a stakeholder event.

Shine 2014

The orginal project was led by a team at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and aimed to improve the quality of life of patients following traumatic brain injury (TBI) through the development of self-management support.

Following TBI the persistent physical, psychological and emotional consequences are often under-acknowledged, and little support exists. However, these consequences can have a significant impact on quality of life for these patients and their families and friends.

A team at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has worked with Bridges Self-Management, a social enterprise that delivers self-management support packages for people following stroke, and together adapted these for people with TBI. They developed self-management support for these patients by engaging people who had experienced TBI in the co-design of resources; enhanced the skills of health care professionals in supporting self-management; and implemented the newly developed self-management support package across the TBI care pathway, starting with acute care. Resources developed comprise a patient held interactive book, a family and friends’ book, and a multi-disciplinary bespoke training package for staff to support self-management.

The intervention was undertaken with over 70 patients and their families within the initial three month implementation period. Seventy multidisciplinary health care professionals and voluntary sector workers undertook full training and an additional 40 staff members and managers participated in abbreviated training. Staff questionnaire responses demonstrated a significant change in self-reported knowledge and skills for supporting people with TBI and their family members to self-manage their condition and everyday life.

Challenges faced by the project team included those associated with attempting to introduce a complex intervention within a busy and highly demanding acute setting.

Contact details

For further information about the project, please email Petra Makela at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.