Elysium Neurological
EveryExpert

Striving for impact in neurorehabilitation and care across multi-pathways

Its been just over two years now since Elysium Neurological launched its EveryExpert project to recognise the expertise and celebrate the achievements of the talented clinicians working across its multi-pathway division.

At the core of EveryExpert is the firm belief that when experts collaborate and share best practice and knowledge, individual outcomes for patients are improved and quality of life of each person is optimised.

Here we look back at the successes of the past 12 months and reflect upon the impact achieved within each pathway through innovation and the hard work of dedicated teams.

An expert for every step of the care pathway

Elysium Neurological operates nine neurological care and rehabilitation services across the UK and provide complex care for a variety of conditions, including ABI and spinal cord injuries, Huntington’s, PDOC, spasticity and complex dementias.

This expert care is provided across five pathways: Neuroprogressive Conditions, Complex Physical Conditions, Complex Dementias, Neurorehabilitation and Neurobehavioural Rehabilitation.

Whatever care pathway is most suitable for an individual’s needs, Elysium’s promise is to always have the best clinician, with the most relevant and effective knowledge of their condition and treatment, supervising their care.

Elysium’s promise is to always have the best clinician, with the most relevant and effective knowledge of their condition and treatment, supervising their care.

Neuroprogressive Conditions Pathway

Positive risk taking is central to Stanley House’s Success

Earlier this year Stanley House Care Home in Herefordshire celebrated becoming one of only five care homes in the country to receive their Huntington Disease Association Quality Assured accreditation.

Their approach to positive risk taking and specialist staff training earned them special praise, because it enables individuals to make their own decisions and exercise choice, which is integral to wellbeing. 

It’s all about trying to give every resident the best life that we can: by understanding their needs, wants, likes and dislikes. This is their home for life and our aim is to build a secure and happy environment that reflects individuality – and sometimes that involves risk taking.

Heidi McCarthy, Care Centre Director, Stanley House

Complex Physical Conditions

Complex Physical Conditions Pathway

SMART Assessment for PDOC continues to bring benefits for patients and clinicians across Elysium Neurological

SMART Assessors, when part of a multidisciplinary team in specialist neurological services, bring measurable benefits to individuals with prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC) and their families.

This year SMART Assessors, both experienced and newly qualified, have helped create a holistic assessment environment that gives the individual the best chance to respond and the clinician the best opportunity to understand and support patients.

The SMART Assessment provides an indicative diagnosis of what level of consciousness and awareness the person actually has, which can then feed into a more comprehensive treatment plan. It’s very thorough.

For example, the first section of the assessment looks at any pre-existing problems, like positional issues, sleep wake issues etc, and it gives you some baseline ideas of what you can do to support the individual in your care. It also identifies any strengths they’ve got, so you can optimise those and build that into therapy. By addressing those issues and strengths first, it creates an important, standardised baseline which you can then work from.

Kirsty Allison, SMART Assessor, Occupational Therapist, The Bridge

Other highlights

A new service for men and women with complex physical neurological presentations will open in West Essex, within the M25, in Spring 2024.

Complex Dementias Pathway

Badby Park team training enhanced with Dementia Care Mapping

Team members at Badby Park have recently completed their Dementia Care Mapping training as part of an ongoing initiative to ensure continuous quality improvement in providing person-centred dementia care.

At the heart of Dementia Care Mapping is the focus on viewing and understanding the perspectives of people living with dementia, to improve both standards of care and general wellbeing for the individual.

Dementia Care Mapping is an observational tool which allows us to record quality of life and care from the perspective of the person living with dementia, and as such it is a very important part of our team’s training.

It’s vital we understand, as best we can, what the care experience is like for the individuals who use our service, so that we are always striving to improve that experience and ensure quality of life.

Louise Smith, Registered Manager and Executive Hospital Director, Badby Park Care Centre

Neurorehabilitation Pathway

Gardens and Jacobs adds Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist to its MDT

Specialist complex neurological service, Gardens and Jacobs, in Hertfordshire, has hired Vanessa Garfoot as Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist.

Vanessa’s appointment will enable the MDT to provide neuropsychological expertise that includes specialist assessment, formulation and interventions that seek to improve outcomes. The expert role will feed into staff training and assist with family liaison providing advice, support and signposting.

Our service users typically come to us with a range of additional needs (including cognitive, emotional and behavioural) on top of their physical needs.

For example, individuals who have suffered an acquired brain injury need support adjusting and learning to live with their condition, and to understand how the injury affects them as an individual.

Having a Neuropsychologist as part of our MDT, means we can now offer specialist psychological interventions, with a focus on cognitive ability and mental health and also feed into staff training to ensure evidence-based psychological approaches are considered as part of the service user's pathway with us.”

Paul Walsh, Service Director, Jacobs and Gardens Neurological Centre

Neurobehavioural Rehabilitation Pathway

New specialised nursing service for ABI rehabilitation for people with challenging needs

Neurobehavioural Rehabilitation

The Avalon Centre evidences impact of embedding outcome measures in the clinical fabric of the service

The Avalon Centre in Wiltshire successfully collected outcome measurements (over 2.5 years) for the first group of 30 patients, with encouraging results that showed meaningful change. Improvements were made across the patient group, with approximately half of patients discharged and the remainder still in rehabilitation.

By sharing our learnings from The Avalon Centre and encouraging everyone in neurorehabilitation to embed outcome measurements so they become part and parcel of the clinical fabric, the impact on a patient’s rehabilitation will be huge and make such a positive difference to their lives and the lives of their families.

Professor Nick Alderman, Senior Clinical Director & Head of Psychology, Elysium Neurological

Other highlights

Moorlands Neurobehavioural Hospital opened in February to work with men and women and has welcomed their 13th patient to the Staffordshire service.

A new step-down service at The Avalon Centre is expected to break ground before the end of the year. The service will provide a pathway for men and women who have made progress and need to continue their rehabilitation journey in a more appropriate setting.

Get the latest insights, blogs and news from Elysium Neurological over on their EveryExpert thought leadership hub: elysiumhealthcare.co.uk/neurological/every-expert/