Sue Swales is a Registered General Nurse with more than 25yrs medical experience. After training at St James' University Hospital in Leeds, Sue spent 16 years working in the Accident and Emergency department. She later moved to the Intensive Care Unit of St James and gained experience in the neuro intensive care unit at the Leeds General Infirmary. She then qualified as a teacher and worked for four years at Wakefield College teaching health and social care.
Sue returned to the NHS in 2001 and combined both teaching and nursing careers when appointed at NHS Direct as part of the education training and development team. She moved on to an independent trauma rehabilitation organisation where she worked until her appointment with Irwin Mitchell.
Sue commenting on her role:
"The broad spectrum of skills acquired throughout the nursing and teaching experience is extremely useful to the Client Liaison role. Having worked alongside Irwin Mitchell with some of the cases I managed in the independent rehabilitation organisation, I was aware that the firm takes the level of care provided for clients very seriously. A common frustration in the independent rehabilitation sector is receiving a referral sometimes years after the incident, making rehabilitation and a successful outcome more challenging. We appreciate the benefit of early intervention which ultimately improves the prospects for a better quality of life and that is what attracted me to this position".
Case Studies of Sue’s role
Grace was a fiercely independent 71 year old lady who enjoyed an active social life until one evening on her way to the local social club she was assaulted. She sustained a significant head injury and her relatives were concerned that she may not survive. To the amazement of the treating doctors she regained consciousness and she very quickly became mobile again.
While she no longer required hospital treatment Grace remained confused and disorientated, had difficulties with her speech and she was not fit to be discharged home. Grace’s care was transferred to the Joint Care Management team and she was transferred to an intermediate care bed in a nearby nursing home where she received adequate nursing care but there was no active brain trauma rehabilitation. Sue liaised with the care team to arrange an assessment via the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT).
The assessing consultant also recognised potential for brain injury rehabilitation and offered a bed pending funding. An assessment took place using a Decision Support Tool and initially funding was declined. Sue supported the family with an appeal against the decision and successfully secured approval to fund a 12 week assessment period in the BIRT centre. A review will take place at that time and a decision will be made as to the most appropriate care pathway for Grace. Grace continues to make good progress.
Lee is 13 years old and was knocked down while crossing a road in 2007. He sustained multiple injuries including a significant brain injury. He made a good recovery and returned to mainstream school. Unfortunately due to his age he transferred to a different school and was not known to his new teachers prior to his head injury.
The school worked on a disciplinary method of good and bad comments that would be written in a personal planner. 5 bad comments lead to detention, if someone failed in detention they would be sent into isolation and if isolation failed they would be sent home.
As a consequence of his brain injury Lee’s memory was affected and he often got lost trying to find the right classroom for his lessons. When he found someone who looked familiar he tried to ask for directions to his classroom. He would get into trouble for disrupting the class that he had entered by mistake and he would pick up a bad comment, he would get into trouble for turning up to class late, picking up another bad comment, very quickly he would pick up the 5 bad comments that would earn him a detention. He would forget to go to detention and this would lead to isolation. Lee had no one to support him or guide him in isolation and he would fail again only to be sent home. This was happening on a regular basis.
Our client liaison manager Sue arranged a meeting with the head of year and Lee’s mother. At the meeting it was agreed that Lee required a Statement of Special Education Needs and support from a co-ordinator (known as a “SENCO”) and this was set up. In the meantime Sue, the head of year, Lee’s mum and Lee agreed a plan of action. Lee’s timetable was divided in half. The first half he would spend with one teacher in the same classroom and the second half would be with all of the other students but with the addition of a ‘buddy’ to ensure that he got to the right classroom on time. Lee and his head of year agreed to meet every Friday afternoon to review progress. Lee and his mum agreed an incentive scheme based on rewards for keeping the bad comments below 5 a week.
Lee continues to make positive progress with this new support.