TREATING HEAD INJURIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 7, 9 January 1946, Page 2

TREATING HEAD INJURIES

NUFFIELD TRUST APPOINTMENT London, Dec. 4 An announcement by the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, the Ministry of Pensions, and the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, states that Dr. W. Ritchie Russell, the neurologist, has been appointed by the Radcliffe Inli rinary, with the aid of a donation of from the Nuflield Provincial Hospitals Trust, to carry out research into rehabilitation and other problems of head injury cases. Dr. Russell, before the war, was lec1m er in neurology at Edinburgh University, and during the war he worked at the Military Hospital for Head Injuries at St. Hugh’s, Oxford.

The announcement says:— ‘•The Nuflield Provincial Hospitals Trust, the Ministry of Pensions, ano the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, have been considered during the last 18 months the possibility of devising some scheme to deal with the aftertreatment of head injury cases ’•The interest in the Nuffield Trust and the Radcliffe Infirmary in this question derives from the work which has been done on these problems at th* Military Hospital for Head Injuries at St. Hugh’s, Oxford, in which members of the medical saff of the university and of the Radcliffe Infirmary have played an important part. The interest of the Ministry of Pensions flows naturally from its responsibility for the treatment of disability arising from the war, and includes cases of head injury treated at special centres of the Emergency Hospital Scheme as well as those treated in Military hospitals. PERMANENT CENTRE NEEDED “As a result of modern neurosurgery and chemotherapy, men with brain wounds, who formerly would have died, have survived this war. Many have regained much of their lost brain function; speech, sight, and mental faculties have returned, paralysed limbs have moved again. These results have not been achieved withcut courage and perseverance on the part of Ihe patients, a favourable environmen’, and the guidance and help of a skilled team of workers. But nevertheless recovery is often incom-

plete, and sometimes the permanent disability is severe. Inability to cope with ordinary conditions when they return to civilian life, coupled with I he fear of being a drag on their families, causes such patients anxiety, disappointment, and frustration. “If these men are to be able to make their contribution to the community within the limitations imposed upon them by their disabilities, it is necessary to assess accurately their physical, mental, and vocational capacities for work while they are in hospital. Later, they must be given facilities for simple * training in various forms of work, more advanced and more satisfying to their anxiety to be useful than occupational therapy alone can afford. Finally, for the

gravely disabled, a permanent centre must he provided which will give medical care and treatment, together with appropriate and selected forms oi useful work and activities, in and tound which these men can live with their families, under the protection which they need.

“The following steps are now being laken to cope with this problem. The Ministry of Pensions recognises that head injury patients comprise a group foi which special provision must be made. In addition to the routine treatment which the Ministry will provide, there is need for research into Ihe I *st methods of rehabilitation, and Into other problems of head injuries. To t ally out this research work, the II:- 1 clifle Infirmary has, with the aid \ the donation of £20,00P from the Xu Held Provincial Hospitals Trust, appointed a neurologist. The holder of this post will work in close collaboration with the departments of Oxford University, which are already engaged in the study of lesions of the nervous system. O’ne of his primary duties will be to provide specialised assistance and advice to the Ministry of Pensions. By these means the latest n.el hods of treatment will be made available for .pensioners?