Experienced case manager joins Ashtons team as rehabilitation co-ordinator

Ashtons Legal is delighted to have welcomed Ben Needham-Holmes whose role is rehabilitation co-ordinator to the firm. His appointment will help to ensure that all seriously injured clients are able to to access the most suitable rehabilitation as early as possible after their injuries occur.

In a nutshell, what does your role of rehabilitation co-ordinator involve?

I work with clients and families across the entire Injury Services Department at Ashtons Legal (Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury and Court of Protection) to offer clinical/welfare guidance and support with their rehabilitation, care and support needs following serious injury.

How did you end up specialising in this area?

From a very young age I was always interested in working with people and in healthcare. I also loved sports and physical activity, so training to become a physiotherapist seemed a perfect fit to marry these interests together. Fast forward to present and I wouldn’t change a thing about the career route I took – it is incredibly rewarding and every day is different.

How are you able to help our clients?

The role is so varied; however as a broad overview, I can support our clients and families in the following ways:

• carry out an early assessment of the client’s needs
• assist with co-ordinating relevant services and support for our clients and their families
• assist with discharge planning from hospital where appropriate to support a safe and smooth discharge home, or to another healthcare setting
• communicate with existing NHS teams, support services, statutory services and medical professionals with regards to ongoing rehabilitation and support
• provide practical support, advice and assistance to our clients and their families to help them better understand and cope with the situation
• provide ‘signposting’ for more specialised benefit applications and advice
• support our clients with referrals to appropriate charities and support organisations
• advise on any ongoing support, rehabilitation and care issues
• we don’t use a ‘one size fits all’ approach so one of the first things I always do is get to know the individual so that my support can be tailored to what they want to achieve.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

I am always respectful of the fact that the clients/families I work with are letting me in at a time when they are at their most vulnerable and trying to re-build their life following a serious injury. Being able to see clients progress through their rehabilitation is why I love my job – it is something that I don’t take for granted!

What is the most challenging part of your job?

As I don’t have private funds for rehabilitation/support, I am required to access statutory, charitable or grant support for our clients. As we all know, these resources are extremely stretched at present and so even with the best intentions, I find that I can’t always get the support the client requires in place as quickly as I would like.

What is a change that you’d like to see happen in your field of work?

I would like to see more focus being placed on understanding the individuals specific circumstances, particularly when it comes to welfare benefit assessments. Often the clients undergo standardised assessments which result in them being turned down for financial support based on a set of rigid criteria; however when you scratch beneath the surface, it is clear that there are needs there.

Ben can be found on Twitter here: @BNeedhamHolmes