Kildare mum highlights rehab bed shortfall

KILDARE woman, Aideen Phelan, and the Neurological Alliance Ireland (NAI) marked this year’s World Brain Day on 22 July at an event in Peamount Healthcare in  Dublin highlighting Ireland has less than half of the neurorehabilitation beds needed for its population.

Aideen is a mother of four from Naas who suffered a brain aneurysm in April 2023 that left her unable to communicate with her children without the help of the Peamount Rehabilitation Centre in Newcastle.

She was told she would be in Peamount for three to six months and might never return to work. 

Aideen returned home and was back to work in the bookies within five weeks – Peamount say she’s one of their greatest success stories. 

All told, 40 neurological charities came together at the event to call on the government to deliver on its Programme for Government pledges to neurorehabilitation in the upcoming Budget.

Ireland has a 58 per cent shortfall in the number of neurorehabilitation beds for patients recovering from conditions such as stroke, acquired brain injury and those living with progressive conditions like multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. 

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to develop more specialist inpatient neurorehabilitation beds in response to this critical shortage.

“When I first met the team at Peamount, I could barely string a sentence together, today I cannot say enough about the vital care and support they gave me to recover and regain my independence and my life.

“One in 50 people have aneurysms, some will never even know they’ve had one, but for some, it will be life-changing, even critical. 

"I was lucky in many ways, and the success story of my recovery is down to the crucial support I received in Peamount. 

"That care and support shouldn’t come down to luck – everyone in Ireland who needs that rehabilitation should have access to it.

“The medical team at Beamont saved my life, but Peamount helped me heal so that I could return to my life.” 

Speaking at the World Brain Day event, Magdalen Rogers, CEO of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, stated that more than 175 neurorehabilitation beds are still needed, despite a national framework published in 2019 promising 306.

“Over 16 per cent of people in Ireland are currently living with a neurological condition,” she said. 

“Behind these statistics are the individuals and their families struggling to come to terms with the effects of a neurological condition and they have a huge fear that they won’t get access to the specialist care they need.

“Our recent survey of 700 people living with a neurological condition across Ireland showed a staggering 76% had not been able to access inpatient neurorehabilitation when they needed it.” 

The NAI represents over forty charities advocating for the rights of over 860,000 people in Ireland living with a neurological condition.

The report is based on the findings of a national survey of 674 adults with a neurological condition across Ireland and is part of a wider collaboration on neurological patient experience across the UK and Ireland.