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NR Times caught up with the co-founder of access: technology north to find out its secret to getting people engaged with the tools they need to support them.

Around four years ago, when Mike Thrussell’s caseload of people with learning difficulties and disabilities needing support with assistive technologies began to grow, he went to his wife Kelly with a suggestion. At first Kelly, who has a background in teaching, was unsure. "I’ve worked with people with learning difficulties for years, and I’ve seen that other people’s experience with assistive technology hasn’t always been positive, so I wanted to approach this differently,” she says.

A new study is calling out for people with a TBI to help understand the benefits of group therapy.

MAPLES (Mood, Activity Participation, and Leisure Engagement Satisfaction) is a University of Cambridge study looking at whether two different sorts of therapeutic groups have benefits for people who have suffered a brain injury. A brain injury can affect activity levels, including socialising, leisure activities and gardening. There may be many different reasons for activity levels to drop, such as increased physical problems and tiredness, reduced enthusiasm, and problems getting to where the activity will take place. Not everybody has decreases in activity level after a brain injury.

Pioneering neurotechnology devlopers have received a US$2m boost to increase access to their portable brain scanning device.

HealthTech Connex, a Canadian medtech firm, developed the NeuroCatch Platform, a first-of-its-kind portable device that measures brain waves which was approved by Health Canada last year. It enables healthcare professionals to rapidly record brainwaves and output event-related potential (ERP) information (measured brain responses). ERPs have been used extensively by clinicians for many brain conditions and injuries such as concussions, dementia, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and PTSD, as well as for brain performance optimisation.

Blue Light Symphony Orchestra (BLSO), the UK's only orchestra for all emergency services personnel, has been awarded £10,000 funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund.

Covid-19 has given rise to an increase in mental health problems, not only in the general public, but also emergency service workers who are experiencing exceptionally increased levels of stress and anxiety. First responders need access to timely and relevant intervention but for many, finding words to express and process their emotions is difficult and the funding will be used to provide music therapy to overcome mental health issues.

Johanna Perraudin speaks to French tech firm EzyGain about its mission to make physical rehabilitation more accessible.

Zineb Agoumi’s grandmother was the inspiration behind the launch of EzyGain in 2015. As her grandmother was often falling at home, she researched ways of practicing walking securely. She quickly noticed that most physical rehabilitation machines tended to be bulky, expensive and complex to use – and therefore the preserve of big health centres. Alternatively, there were simple treadmills which could not be adapted to every patient.

Due to advances in healthcare, more children than ever are surviving brain injuries. Some, however, may remain in a coma or with a disorder of consciousness (DOC). This can cause diagnostic, ethical and clinical challenges, and misdiagnoses can lead to inadequate care, and insufficient access to treatment, rehab, and services...

For adults with DOC, clinicians can use the Music therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC) to better understand the patient’s recovery, but until recently, there hasn’t been anything similar for children.Acquired brain injuries can lead to language impairment. And for some children, their language may not have been fully developed before their injury. This renders language-based tests unsuitable for getting proper responses from children to gauge their needs and recovery.

Well-known across South Wales for providing an essential rehabilitation service to patients with brain injuries and neurological conditions, Neuro Physio Wales took decisive action to protect them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sara Davis, neurophysiotherapist and director of the Bridgend clinic, explains more.

Back in March, as it became clear that lockdown was coming, we knew we had to make a decision as to how we would handle the weeks and months ahead. As a very busy centre, we had a full clinic and many patients were waiting for appointments due to the demand we were seeing - but what had to come first was ensuring their safety. We have a great mix of clients who come here, but some are very vulnerable with complex needs, and the risk to them was especially great.

To help assess the changing nature of case management, Heidi Stevens has produced a research protocol, ‘The effectiveness of a case management approach to care for adults who suffer trauma through injury: protocol for a systematic review’. Here, she discusses her aims and ambitions for the protocol, which is set to be released later this month.

What is your background and what are you doing currently? I am an associate public health nutritionist and have just started working on a systematic review for Teesside University investigating weight management interventions for people with severe mental health issues.

A recent study by Headway found that 72 per cent of brain injury survivors feel that people in their life don't understand their memory problems, with 81 per cent reporting that their life would be improved if people had a better understanding of this complex condition.

Karl Hargreaves, 49, is just one of those people battling severe memory loss following a brain injury. He is sharing his story as part of Headway’s Memory Loss: A campaign to remember in order to raise awareness and increase understanding of life after brain injury. Years of precious memories were wiped in an instant when the father from Lincoln was involved in a road traffic collision in 2015.

The Government has recently indicated that they are intending to consult on changing the law in the near future so as to allow level three automated vehicles on the road, writes David Withers of Irwin Mitchell.

There are six levels of automation: Level 0: The driver performs all of the tasks associated with driving the vehicle; Level 1: Some driving features are included but the driver controls the vehicle; Level 2: The vehicle has automated functions but the driver must monitor the environment and be ready to take control at all times; Level 3: The driver is a necessity but does not need to monitor the environment at all times; Level 4: The vehicle can perform all driving functions under certain conditions; Level 5: The vehicle can perform all driving functions under all conditions.