Head Injury Club

Head Injuries Club Summary

Background:

  • Began in 1962 by members of the Birmingham Accident Hospital staff and head injury patients themselves. (Inc. Philip Lockhart (Chief Almoner – Social Worker), Jack Thackeray (Head Remedial Gymnast) and Mr Peter London (Surgeon).
  • Due to medical advances in early and subsequent treatment, more and more people were starting to survive severe brain injury that previously would have resulted in their death.
  • The Acci pioneered the treatment of severe brain damage, by immediate tracheotomy or intubation – which saved lives, but increased the pool of patients with multiple disabilities, who required more than the usual rehabilitation.
  • 1962 Philip Lockhart (the then Head Almoner) asked a group of hospital staff, with the most contact with these patients, to help form some sort of club to help the patients and families, who were particularly badly affected.
  • The idea of a Head Injuries club came from a service Lockhart had seen at The Wolveson Centre, for stroke patients in London
  • Individuals who put a great deal into the start of the club include: ”Miss Savage (head O.T. at the time), Sister Griffin (Sister in charge of “T” ward), Keith Withall (then a staff nurse), a couple of consultants and a couple of us from the rehabilitation side.”
  • On the first night there were over 100 people in the Gym
  • It soon became clear that the club was not enough, and patients needed some form of work to give them back some dignity and interested to their lives.
  • 1982 there were 2 clubs specifically for victims of traumatic brain damage – one at the Acci and one in Nottingham. Today (1992) there are 92, plus 23 Rehabilitation Day Centres; which all come under the banner of ‘Headway’ (Headway National Head Injuries Association – of which Princess Diana was Patron).

Headlines:

Aug 1964:
Sheltered occupation for members – hoping to gain consent to set up a workshop in the hospital grounds.
Outings such as Mr Matthews country home, Mickleton
Roger Sanders-Smith retired as an officer of the club.
Social evenings – such as bingo

Nov 1964:
Mr David Doggett – replacement for Roger Sanders-Smith
Social evenings – games night (radio game “what do you know?”)

Jan 1965:
“Friends of Birmingham Accident Hospital” donated £25 to buy a record player

Apr 1965:
Stamp collection – initiated by Margaret Austin (one of the earliest club members) who sent the club some foreign stamps

Jul 1965:
Nuffield Trust offered financial help for the workshop – an initial grant of £5,000 and £2,000 per year for 3 years was agreed (confirmed by Mr Brooks)

Nov 1965:

New Venture – Fortnightly, on Monday evenings, medical social workers were available for
members to talk about problems which affect them

March 1966:
The building which used to house the Selly Oak Eye department was suggested to be the new
location for the Sheltered workshop (fire department deemed the original plans for the site to
be unsafe).
Christmas Parties were held in the gym

Oct 1966:
Outing to the Cotswolds
Volunteer Transport Service – help make outings for members possible by providing free
transport to various locations

Aug 1966:
The work centre is making good progress and is hoped to open in 3 months’ time
Outing to the home of Mrs Orhan at Aston Subedge.
Pen Portrait – Miss Clatworthy

1967:
William Gissane was President of the HIC & Mr Lockhart was vice-president
Mr Kinchin was appointed manager of the Sheltered workshop
The workshop was officially opened by Dr Wilson, Bishop of Birmingham on the 25 th Sept 1967
– although the workshop had been open since 3 rd April 1967 and the first seven people had begun to work there, by June there were 11 individuals using the workshop

Summer 1969:
The number of individuals using the workshops had risen to 27

Dec 1970:
Bring and buy sale held in the gym – raised £43.40 for club funds
100 people present for the Christmas party, held in the gym
Visit to Birmingham town hall

May 1971:
Workshop opened 3 rd April 1967 – with the aim to help people find employment through channels
Stamp Club
Fate organised to raise money for the club

May 1972:
10th year of existence of the Head Injuries Club
“ So much for past history which is interesting and which I think should be remembered from time to time because then we can realise how much we have already achieved and the sense of good feeling so achieved, we should use it to go ahead against the many things still left to do.” John Lewis
30 people are now using the sheltered workshops

Dec 1972
The Old Nortonians (an association of the old boys of Kings Norton Grammar School) have helped the club and trust financially. This help was even greater this year when the Old Nortonians held a fashion show at Kings Norton Gold Club – the Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Keith Ackrill of BBC Television & Joan Palmer of ATV were special guests. Est 200 people were present raising a £90.00 for the Head Injuries Rehabilitation Trust and £50.00 for the HIC

Sheltered Work Centre for Head Injury Patients – article:

  • Aim: to provide gainful employment for patients who are too handicapped to be employed by Remploy – with the hope that some will be able to gradually rehabilitate into Remploy and possibly into open industry
  • Aim to encourage people with severe personality, mental and physical disabilities to meet people. While giving relatives of such patients an opportunity to discuss their problems and solutions.
  • Individuals start with simple assembly and packing then progress to simple machine work.
  • 2 discussion groups were set up, guided by social workers – one for patients and one for relatives and friends
  • The senior administrative medical officer of the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board signposted the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, who suggested a site for the workshop within the hospital precincts. The aim was to build a prefabricated building – costing about £5,000 to build and an estimated £2,000 to run per year.
  • The Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust offered a grant for £11,000 to cover building costs and 3 years of running costs. After which the regional board and Selly Oak hospital management committee agreed to continue the running costs.
  • Unfortunately, the fire department deemed the building to be unsafe and with no other site available within the hospital grounds the project stood at a standstill.
  • Luckily the Birmingham Regional Board suggested the use of a building, belonging to the hospital management committee that was now empty (previously used as an eye hospital outpatient department).
  • However, being outside the city centre it required more staff than originally planned.
  • Future Plans:
    • Have a hostel near to the workshop, for head injury patients who are not yet fit for home, but don’t require an acute hospital bed.
    • ­They could have Physiotherapy, Psychiatric care and Speech Therapy etc.
    • ­This service would allow relatives to go out to work.

Birmingham Head Injuries Article:

  • Up until the early 1950s, head injury victims, mostly young motorcyclists died within a few days of their injury.
  • Somewhere where patients and relatives could meet and talk informally with members of hospital staff or just take time off from caring of the patient
  • On the first Monday in October 1962, the first meeting of the Head Injuries Club was held – which over 100 people attended
  • As time went on there was a realisation that a club was very good, but not enough. Patients and relatives wanted Head Injury patients to go back to work and have pride and dignity.
  • Therefore, in 1964 The Head Injuries Rehabilitation Trust was formed.
  • Mr P S London and Mr H Proctor approached the Nuffield Trust with a project for a workshop specifically for brain damaged people.
  • This centre continues to work to this day, but in new purpose-built premises in the grounds of
  • Moseley Hall Hospital, Birmingham.
  • 1979 with backing and funding of the Head Injuries Rehabilitation Trust, Philip Lockhart compiled a list of everyone in the country he thought would have an interest in head injuries and sent out hundreds of letters. This resulted in contact with Reg Talbott who was the Principle Social Worker at Nottingham General Hospital (who assisted in the running of the newly formed “head injuries club” called “Headline”.
  • Two meetings took place one in Oct 1979 and the other in March 1980. These were attended by 40 people from all parts of the country, representing every profession in the Health Service, plus some concerned carers. Subsequently it was decided to form a steering committee with the purpose of working towards a National Head Injuries Association – to be called “Headway”.
  • Sadly, Mr Lockhart died before seeing the tremendous expansion of his dream – a meeting place locally for all victims of brain damage to have regular contact with friends, and someone to talk over their problems with.
  • Code of practice of the Head Injuries Club: “To provide opportunities for members to participate in group activities in order to help restore their confidence, promote mutual support and encouragement and to develop their potential, thereby assisting them to live as full a life as possible within the limits imposed by disability, and to help others in similar circumstances to do the same…”
  • This article was written by Jack Thackeray in 1994, who was president of the Head Injuries Club, at the time.

The Acci Magazine:

  • 15th April 1992 – grand opening of the restored social club, with 200 plus guests attending.

Headway:

  • Barry Mitton was chairman of the Headway organisation for 4 years (2 years as chairman of the Steering Group and 2 years as chairman of the Management Committee). He was also a trustee and allowed Headway to use part of his office as their Headquarters’ base.
  • Headway was born under Barry’s leadership and grew as a nationally and internationally respected organisation.
  • Barry’s wife, Dinah, also helped the organisation. Their son was badly injured in an accident years before.
  • When Barry retired there were almost 50 Headway groups established.

What it is now

Once they were able to participate in Rehabilitation, they could attend the Centre in Exeter Road, Selly
Oak, which had workshop and other facilities and was staffed by Occupational Therapists (including
Anne Savage) and other Health Professionals.  This has now moved to the Moseley Hall Hospital site
and is the Moor Green Outpatient Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit.
Moor Green Out-Patient Brain Injury Service provides rehabilitation on a daily basis to adults with an
acquired brain injury (ABI).

The staff team consists of:

  • speech and language therapists
  • physiotherapists
  • occupational therapists
  • clinical psychologists
  • consultants in rehabilitation medicine
  • an adult education tutor
  • administration and secretarial staff

Clients may be working on managing their behaviour, community integration, independent living
skills, vocational exploration or returning to work, though we have a particular emphasis on these
latter areas.