The Children’s Acquired Brain Injury Consultation Service (ABCS) is a regional service. It is a multi-professional team designed to support existing services, to recognise and respond to the needs of children and young people after an acquired brain injury.
What is an acquired brain injury?
An acquired brain injury is damage caused to the brain after a period of normal development. Such damage can arise from a number of issues, some of which include:
- traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- circulatory disorders
- interruptions of oxygen supply to the brain (e.g. near drowning)
- central nervous system (CNS) infection (e.g. meningitis)
- tumour and associated treatments (e.g. radiation)
What do we do?
We provide a consultative support for professionals who are offering input to children and young people (and their families) after an acquired brain injury. Children’s Acquired Brain Injury Consultation Service provides support through:
- Information development and provision
- Delivery of training regarding acquired brain injury
- Consultations regarding children presenting with acquired brain injury-related difficulties e.g. poor attention, difficulties with organisation or mental health issues, which may involve:
- Making recommendations on evidence-based treatment approaches
- Advising on educational planning
- Signposting on to other relevant services (e.g. in the voluntary sector).
The service does not provide direct child assessments or carer support. Our role is to offer support to the services working with these children and their carers with the aspiration of upskilling existing services to feel more confident and competent in working with this clinical group. We work in partnership to provide support, advice or consultation to any service supporting a child with an acquired brain injury in Northern Ireland. This includes support to universal and specialist services within the health and social care, education and voluntary sectors, including all children up to age 19 who are in receipt of children’s services.
We are also engaged in evaluating improvements in the provision of services to children and families post-acquired brain injury and have contributed to national elearning resources: http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/home/
Where to find us
Children’s acquired brain injury services are provided through the Belfast Trust at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Children’s Acquired Brain Injury Consultation Service | Belfast Health & Social Care Trust
How to contact us
Children’s Acquired Brain Injury Consultation Service
Royal Victoria Hospital, Level 9C, Outpatients Building, 274 Grosvenor Road, Belfast, BT12 6BA
- Telephone: 028 9615 2020
- Email: Childrens.abcssm@belfasttrust.hscni.net
How to access the service
Consultation
To refer a child to the Children’s Acquired Brain Injury Consultation Service, please fill in the following referral form:
A member of the multidisciplinary team will contact you after your initial contact and will clarify what support would be most effective, and how this could be arranged.
Training
We provide a rolling calendar of training across the region and we can also offer bespoke training for specific service’s needs. To be referred to an ABCS training program, please fill in the following referral form:
Forms should be returned to Childrens.abcssm@belfasttrust.hscni.net, and a member of the team will be in contact.