Rehabilitation

We will advise you on all aspects surrounding your spinal cord injury claim and you can concentrate on your rehabilitation, which is the most important aspect. In particular we will look at:

• Immediate rehabilitation and treatment costs - looking at the provision under the NHS and considering, with you, whether additional rehabilitation is required in a private hospital.
• Adaptations to your home or the purchase of a new home - both short term (immediate requirements and before discharge from hospital), and also long term needs. We have access to specialist architects who can advise on whether your house can be adapted, and if so the likely cost.
• The provision of aids and equipment - including transport and wheelchairs as well as aids and equipment needed in the home. We can put you in touch with suppliers so that you can test out items of equipment before purchasing them.
• Care needs, both personal care and also general assistance around the home - we can discuss with you the various options for care arrangements, including employing your own carers as against using agency carers and we will instruct a specialist care expert to quantify this aspect of your claim.
• Future needs to cope with effects of aging - this includes increasing care needs as you get older, but also the need for additional items of equipment to enable you to be as independent as possible for as long as possible.
• The legal implications of incontinence, impotence and pain - these aspects of spinal cord injury can easily be overlooked by solicitors who do not specialise in this work. But establishing successful management of these conditions is crucial to obtaining a satisfactory quality of life. We do not underestimate these and ensure they are fully considered in your claim.
• Fertility treatment and parenthood - Whilst it may no longer be possible for you to conceive a child in the usual manner nevertheless there are a number of techniques available to enable spinal cord injured men to achieve fatherhood, and we ensure these are explored with you prior to settlement of your claim. We also consider the extra cost of childcare and additional equipment required to enable you to play as full a role as possible in raising any children that you have or hope to have in the future.
• Additional household expenditure - we know that many spinal cord injured people incur significant additional household costs, because of poor temperature control, incontinence and household damage caused by wheelchair use. We will take details from you of these costs and ensure they are included in your claim.
• The cost of sport and leisure activities - we do not underestimate the importance of these to your quality of life. Whether you were an outdoor sports enthusiast or whether your interests were family or home based, such as cooking or DIY, we can advise on ways in which you can continue your former activities or help to find alternatives. 

We believe that everyone should have access to a wide-range of sport activities depending on personal choice. We have researched many of the options available to wheelchair users and can advice on how to access these activities and the equipment required to be able to partake. Activities include:

1. Wheelchair sports such as basketball, quad rugby, tennis, wheelchair racing
2. Other sports such as skiing, water-skiing, sailing, scuba-diving, flying, carriage driving, golf
3. Outdoor activities such as hand biking, all terrain quad-biking, gardening
4. Indoor activities such as art, photography, computer usage, reading, sewing

• The extra cost of holidays - we know how important it is to have stress free holidays. Unfortunately most package holidays do not cater for those with specific needs. We can help you to find suitable holidays and ensure that the extra cost of these is included in your claim.
• Future employment and the Disability Discrimination Act - returning to work can be crucial to self esteem, however often people need to make changes to their working conditions or environment. We will discuss with you the various possibilities and look at alternatives such as part-time working, working from home etc. Whilst we are keen to help you re-establish your career we understand that other matters, such as suitable housing, care arrangements and transport need to be resolved first.
• Education and re-training needs - linked in with future employment is the question of whether you need to consider an alternative career and if so the re-training that will be required.
• Effective tax planning to preserve your settlement - when your case has concluded you should have a very large sum of money, which you need to invest wisely, so that it will last you for the rest of your life and cover all your future needs. We can help you to find suitably qualified financial advisors who will be able to assist with this.

Talk to an expert about making a claim

Call us on 0870 024 0558 or fill in our claim form and we will get back to you.

©2011 Alexander Harris Solicitors - Merged with Irwin Mitchell since 02/05/06

• Sitemap
• Accessibility
• Privacy
• Contact
• Clinical Negligence Claim
• Clinical Negligence Solicitor
• Compensation Claim