City Hospital make a '˜u-turn' on decision to relocate brain injury unit

Steph Parvin, 28, has had to rebuild her life step by step after suffering a severe brain injury in a road accident.

She says she owes a massive debt of gratitude to the Nottingham Trauma Brain Injury team for putting her on the long road to recovery.

Support to patients who have suffered a brain trauma is provided at the Linden Lodge Neuro Rehabilitation Unit, which is located at the City Hospital.

Nottingham North and East Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had planned to move the service into the community but announced this week that it will stay where it is.

The CCG’s clinical lead, Dr James Hopkinson, said the decision was made after they had listened to views expressed during a six-week ‘engagement’ period.

Steph was at the forefront of opposition to the change, which included 1,100 people signing a petition.

She said: “I am very pleased about the U-turn but the idea should never have been suggested in the first place.”

After being hit by a car in Nottingham on June 23, 2007, Steph was in a coma for five days and remained in hospital for about two months. She was then faced with the formidable challenge of learning to walk, talk and lead a normal life again.

She said: “I went through a lot of emotional trauma and asked myself questions which I could not answer.”

Steph was eventually able to return to work at the Tesco Extra superstore in Hucknall and is now employed in its petrol station.

She said: “I cannot thank Tesco enough for keeping my job open for me.”

Steph has received a lot of backing from the superstore’s community champion, Jan Lees, and Notts county councillor John Wilmott. Both accompanied her to a meeting of the CCG at which the group were made fully aware of objections to the proposal.