• Are you one of our hub-based day service clients?
• Are you one of our community clients?
• Are you somebody with a brain injury who has not yet made contact with us?

We are always interested in hearing your views about our services and we will send out questionnaires or invite you to meetings or focus groups from time to time. We also like to include clients or family carers on our interview panels for ensure we employ the right staff. In addition to ensuring you all have a voice on our services we also want to make sure your views are hear on a variety of services in the community.

We have client representatives on the Social Care’s Physical Disability and Sensory Impairment Boards to make sure brain injury is considered in the planning and delivery of social care services.
We are also asked by other services to contribute to their consultations.

For example the following want to know your views.

• Healthwatch Cambridgeshire is assisting Cambridgeshire County Council to promote its consultation about their new healthy lifestyle and weight management service.
• The Neurological Alliance has launched a patient experience survey.
• Addenbrooke’s Hospital is starting to consider options for replacing its neurosciences buildings

If you are interested in taking part in any of the above consultations please let us know and we can make sure your views are heard.

It would also be useful to know if you would be interested in taking part in any future consultations or being on the interview panels (full training will be given) when we are recruiting staff.

You can register your interest in any of the following by:

You can register your interest by:
Emailing: [email protected]
Phoning: Kathy Bullock on 01223 576550
Writing to Kathy Bullock at Headway Cambridgeshire. The address is at the bottom of this web page.

 

Current Surveys & Consultations

 

Adult Social Care Draft Transport Policy Consultation & Invitation to Cross Board Transport group

A draft policy for transport, which details the eligibility criteria for the future allocation of transport to support care packages, has been published and a 3 month consultation (ending 12th March 2015) is now underway.

A briefing note and link to the consultation and transport questionnaire can be found here.

This details the eligibility criteria for the future allocation of transport to support care packages.

Adult Committee on 4th December agreed to the launch of a three month consultation. It was launched on Friday 12th December 2014. The closing date is 12th March 2015 although paper submissions will be accepted until the morning of 16th March 2015.

Following the closing date a further report will be submitted to the May 2015 meeting of the Adult Committee outlining the responses from the consultation plus the draft policy, duly amended if necessary, for approval.

The link contains a questionnaire for service users to fill in and also a link to the draft policy for comments. It is possible to go straight to the draft policy for those whom the questionnaire does not apply to.

It is hoped that as wide a group as possible have the opportunity to comment on it, so please share the link with interested parties. For a paper copy or other format, please follow the link above and use the contact email on the website.

The Cambridgeshire Alliance is holding its second Cross Board Transport Group meeting on 12th January 2015; the latter part of which Derrick Biggs will be attending to discuss and take feedback on the transport policy.

Headway Cambridgeshire has two client representatives on the Social Care’s Physical Disability and Sensory Impairment Boards and they will be attending this meeting. To add your opinion to the comments they will take to the meeting, please email [email protected] or telephone 01223 576550 and Headway Cambridgeshire admin staff will take a message and pass it on to the representatives for you.

December 2014

 

Consultation on a future model for NHS 111 and GP Out of Hours services

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group has launched a consultation on a future model for NHS 111 and GP Out of Hours services.

The consultation document and details of how to respond are available on their website here.

The closing date for receipt of responses to this consultation is 5pm on 20 February 2015.

December 2014

 

Threat appraisal following acquired brain injury: The role of self-discrepancy

Researcher: Liam Gilligan (Trainee Clinical Psychologist)

Supervised by: Dr Margo Ononaiye, Dr Fergus Gracey and Dr Dave Peck

Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of East Anglia

My name is Liam Gilligan; I am a trainee Clinical Psychologist doing a research study as part of my training at the University of East Anglia. You are being invited to take part in this research. Before you take part in this research, it is important that you understand why this is being done and what it will involve.

Please take some time to read it carefully, and feel free to ask if anything is not clear or you wish to discuss it further.

Purpose of the study:

People who have had a brain injury can experience a range of difficulties which can change how they choose to do things on a day-to-day basis. Some of these might be related to the amount of attention that they pay to things which they think are threatening to them, such as people judging them negatively. This research wants to find out more about attention in people who have had a brain injury, and how this is affected by certain things, such as what that person thinks of themselves.

Who is chosen for this study?

We are inviting people to take part in this research because who have experienced a brain injury in the past.

Do I have to take part?

No, it is up to you whether you wish to take part in the study. If you decide not to take part, it will not affect any of your care or activities, and you can choose to stop during the study at any time.

What will happen if I choose to take part?

If you agree to take part, a time will be arranged a time for me to visit, when I can answer any questions that you have. You will have to complete a consent form and fill in some details about yourself (such as your age). Then you will have to complete some questionnaires that look at your mood and some questions about how you see yourself now and before your brain injury. You will also have to complete a task on a laptop that should take about 20 minutes, and a sorting task that should take about 15 minutes. In total it should take between 60 and 90 minutes.

Will my results be confidential?

Yes – everything that is collected from these measures will be kept strictly confidential, so no-one else will see them, and all your questionnaires will have a number to use instead of your name to ensure this.

If at any time the researcher becomes concerned that you might be at risk of harming yourself or other people, then they will need to break this confidentiality and talk to someone involved in your care (either a health worker at your service or your GP) to inform them of this. I will try to discuss this with you first if it happens.

What will happen to the results of the study?

Once I have completed all the assessments, I will write a report about the research for the University which will be published in an academic journal. Your name and personal details will not be in the report.

Who is funding and organising this research?

This research is being funded and organised by the University of East Anglia as part of my doctoral research project.

Further information and contact details:

If you wish to discuss the project further or talk to the researcher about volunteering for the study, please feel free to contact the researcher (Liam Gilligan) at [email protected]

If you have any problems or have any complaints about the study then please contact Dr Margo Ononaiye, at [email protected]

If you wish to discuss this project with someone independent from the project or have any concerns or complaints, than please contact David Lynch at Headway Cambridgeshire, at [email protected]

Thank you for reading this information sheet and considering taking part in the research. Please feel free to discuss this with anyone else that you wish to (your family, friends and health staff).

Download Consent Form For This Study

Download Information Sheet and Consent Form For This Study

October 2014

 

Children of Parents with Acquired Brain Injury

Anglia Ruskin University
Cambridge Chelmsford Peterborough
Department of Psychology Research Project

Would you like to help us find out more about how children cope when one of their parents has a brain injury?

Currently, there is little research on this and we would like to talk to families affected by brain injury to find out more.

Our aim is that this research will eventually lead to developing more support and services for children and families in this situation.

The research involves interviews with parents, interviews with children, and interviews with support workers.

We are looking for families to participate in which one parent has a brain injury and at least one child is 8 years old or over. We would want to find out about your views and experiences, with parents and children interviewed both together and separately, in a supportive environment on Headway premises.

We would love your help, and want to learn from your experiences.

To find out more please contact:

Kathy Bullock by email: [email protected]

Dr Poul Rohleder, Department of Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University
Email: [email protected]

Download ARU Research Advert

Download HWC Letter of Support

July 2014