News

The Neurological Alliance has launched its second neurological patient experience survey.

The survey aims to collect vital information about the experiences of care received by people affected by neurological conditions and  help to understand how much progress has been made in improving neurological services.

The Neurological Alliance needs your feedback to be able to make the strongest case to decision makers about how services need to change. Oxford Head Injury Services fully supports the Neurological Alliance in its ambitions, and we welcome the survey as an important tool in measuring improvements to neurological services in the future.

The survey is open until September 30th and the Alliance welcomes responses from anyone with a neurological condition living in England.

They will be using the survey findings to feed into a report early next year. The report will set out a comprehensive picture of what is happening in relation to neurological services and make recommendations about how care can be improved.

Frequently asked questions about the Neurological Alliance Survey

1. Why is the Neurological Alliance launching a neurological patient experience survey?

The neurological patient experience survey is a vital tool helping the Neurological Alliance gather important information about the experiences of care, treatment and support received by people affected by neurological conditions. It will also help the Neurological Alliance understand what progress has been made in improving neurological services and what still needs to happen.

The previous iteration of our survey, conducted in 2014, produced a wealth of data and information which has been used for a wide range of campaigning and research activity.

This year’s survey will assess progress compared to 2014 as well as incorporating a wider range of additional questions and topics to help us gather a fuller picture of what it is like living with a neurological condition’. The survey results will be written up into a report and published  by the Neurological Alliance in early 2017, and will set out a comprehensive picture of what is happening in relation to neurological services, care and support, and make recommendations about how they can be improved. They will share the report with decision makers who have influence over how NHS and social care services are designed and delivered.

2. When will the survey be launched, and what is the closing date for responses?

The survey went live on 30th June 2016, with a closing date of Monday 30th September 2016.

3. Is the survey available in a paper format?

The survey is set up in an online format only. This means that you will need an internet connection to complete the survey. However, you can download a printable copy from the Neurological Alliance website which can be filled in on paper and then be inputted online at a later date by a friend, family member or carer on the respondent’s behalf.

4. How is the survey going to be promoted and who are the target audiences?

The survey will be sent out to organisations and individuals from across the neurological community, as well as key stakeholders within the NHS and the Government. We are also asking for the Neurological Alliance’s members to publicise the survey among their own networks on their websites and via email and social media.

5. Can I answer the survey as someone who cares for an individual with a neurological condition, or is it only open to people with a neurological condition?

This survey is only open to individuals with a neurological condition. You can of course support the person you care for by filling in the answers on their behalf.

If you would like to take part in the survey click here to begin.

This is the latest edition of our “What we learned this Month…..” newsletter in which we intend to open the doors of Oxford Head Injury Services so you can take a look inside and see what we have been up to, we hope you enjoy them and look forward to hearing about what you think about Oxford Head Injury Services

This month is a MG Live Special edition as this year we teamed up with the MG Car Club to be the official charity at  MG Live 2016 which is the biggest MG Car event in the world and takes place at the home of British motor sport Silverstone

This year it took place on the weekend of June 4th and 5th.

The MG Car Club is located in Abingdon which is just a few short miles from Oxford Head Injury Services’s home in Kennington, and is right next to the old MG’s works buildings where for over 50 years MG’s rolled out of the production line.

MG Live is the place to be for all lovers of the iconic British motor car, with two days of thrilling track action roaring around the famous Silverstone track, hundreds of proud owners showing off their mint condition MG’s and swapping stories as well as a packed schedule of petrol head fun in the main arena.

 

Over it’s 90 year history MG has been committed to innovation in road safety, this is illustrated by it’s famous catchphrase “Safety Fast”, at it’s peak in the 1930’s over 30 people a day where killed on our roads, but over the years new inventions and legislation have driven that figure steadily down until in 2013 that figure was down to less than 5 people every day.

There is still much work to be done to drive these figures down still further, and off course as more people avoid fatal injuries we have seen an increase in those surviving with serious injuries including as you can imagine brain injuries.

Another value we share with MG is a desire to live life to it’s fullest, so MG Live is a perfect event for us to get involved with, and we chose “safety Fast” as the theme of our marquee at the event.

The Oxford Head Injury Services team arrived on Friday to set up our Marquee and await the arrival of what would turn out to be one of the star attractions of the show. The British Motor museum at nearby Gaydon had very kindly agreed to loan us for the weekend the unique 1972 MGB SSV1 from it’s collection of historic cars.

This safety car prototype had built in what where then a number of groundbreaking safety features that would go to become standard including ABS brakes, airbags and crumple zones in the bodywork, and a few that wouldn’t become standard such as the rooftop periscope!.

We brought our illustration of safety features up to date with a pair of modern high performance motorcycle leathers and a state of the art motorcycle helmet kindly loaned to us by the industry leading manufacturer Oxford Products based in Witney. Both the helmet and leathers has sustained damage in a 80 mile an hour crash during a motor sport event, yet the rider walked away uninjured. In the spirit of “Safety Fast” we also had  display of the covers of the official MG magazine also called “Safety Fast” from the 1950’s and 60’s.

 

On both days of the event we kept busy selling programs (a percentage of whose sales will be donated to Oxford Head Injury Services) and greeting and taking donations from the many people who visited our marquee, as well as keeping kids of all ages amused with our remote control Mini challenge where people where tasked with driving a slalom course while wearing glasses that mimic the visual and balance effects of a brain injury.

On Saturday Jamie Miller Oxford Head Injury Services CEO attended and spoke at the annual  MG Car Club’s President’s International Dinner where over £1100 was raised at an auction for Oxford Head Injury Services, Jamie was also kept busy as head judge for the best MG car club display competition, here is is presenting the Gold prize to the winners.

On Sunday we all found ourselves at the main arena at MG Live where the amazing stunt car driver Russ Swift a much loved regular at MG live performed his incredible show, spectators where given the chance to bid to take a seat in Russ Car while he performed, and over £600 was raised in just a few short minutes. Huge thanks are owed to both Russ Swift and the brilliant Ant Anstead from Channel 4’s  “For the Love of Cars” who was the host and announcer at the arena.

 

All in all it was a fantastic weekend, huge thanks to the MG Car Club for inviting us and it has given us plenty of ideas for next year when we return again to MG Live

And Finally:

 

The Sun has set on MG Live 2016, but we will be returning to Silverstone in 2017!