Expert Witness Journal Issue 64 December 2025 - Flipbook - Page 60
New Guideline: Rehabilitation for
Chronic Neurological Disorders
Including Acquired Brain Injury
by Kim Milan, Senior Partner at Boyes Turner
The National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence (NICE) has published new guidance on
rehabilitation for people with chronic neurological
disorders.
How should rehabilitation take place
under the new rehabilitation guidelines?
A single point of contact or case manager
The new rehabilitation guideline centres an
individual’s rehabilitation around coordinated
case management overseen by a single point of
contact. The guideline doesn’t mandate that the
coordinator or lead contact for rehabilitation
should always be a professional case manager, but
recommends assigning a ‘complex case manager’
(rather than a key worker) where the injured person
has severe, complex and long-term rehabilitation
needs and impaired cognitive function, di昀케culties
with communication or comorbidities (such as
depression) which make it di昀케cult for them to
access or engage in rehabilitation or advocate for
themselves.
The new guideline, Rehabilitation of neurological
disorders including acquired brain injury, provides
both an inspiring vision and a practical, step-by-step
guide to how rehabilitation should take place, in
hospital and community settings, for people living
with neurological disability after acquired brain
injury (ABI) or spinal cord injury (SCI), or from
acquired peripheral nerve disorder, functional
neurological disorder (FND) or progressive
neurological disease.
What is rehabilitation?
When we talk about rehabilitation after traumatic
brain injury (TBI), spinal injury or major trauma,
we are referring to treatments, interventions or
support which will help reduce the injured person’s
disability, restore their function and independence,
optimise their ability to carry out everyday tasks
and participate in education, work or leisure, and
meaningful social and family relationships.
The guidance says that the single point of contact
or case manager’s role is to help the injured person
understand and navigate rehabilitation services,
coordinate their rehabilitation plan, support them
in accessing rehabilitation services and refer them to
other services where needed. Having an accessible,
named, case manager who works closely with the
individual and their family and understands their
needs, ensures that rehabilitation is fully coordinated
across multiple NHS, social care, voluntary services
or private organisations but is also personalised and
responsive to changes in the individual’s health,
circumstances or needs.
Rehabilitation can involve working with the injured
person to overcome health symptoms (such as
pain management) or functional disability (such
as physiotherapy). For many of our clients, it also
involves adapting their home and environment,
providing specialist aids and equipment, and
teaching strategies or behaviours to increase their
safety and independence.
The guidance recommends that the injured person’s
need for rehabilitation should be identi昀椀ed and
discussed with them and their family as early as
possible after injury or diagnosis. At this stage, the
individual and their GP should be given an initial
contact for rehabilitation.
Timely, personalised rehabilitation maximises the
injured person’s recovery and enhances their quality
of life. Its wider bene昀椀ts include reducing costs and
pressure on the health and social care systems, and
economic bene昀椀ts from enabling neurologicallyinjured people to work or contribute to society.
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
57
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2025-2026
