• M P Gray, D Woods, and I Hadjikoumi.
• PICU, St. George's Hospital, London, SW17 0QT, UK. martingray2@nhs.net.
• Eur J Trauma Emerg S. 2012 Aug 1;38(4):423-31.

IntroductionPaediatric major trauma centres are being developed in the UK. As a paediatric unit within a large regional hospital that is co-located with a neurosciences centre, we conducted this study to establish what inpatient rehabilitation service is offered to patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). It is known that early rehabilitation improves prognosis.Materials And MethodsA retrospective review of all patients under the age of 16 years admitted with an ICD-10 diagnosis of head injury was conducted. We collected data on the presentation, interventions, rehabilitation and follow up arrangements of this patient cohort.ResultsA total of 146 patients were identified, of whom >50% had a traumatic lesion on brain computed tomography (CT) identified and 18% had a new diagnosis related to their TBI at discharge. 56% of patients with severe head injury were assessed by a neurodisability team member, but this dropped to 15% for the moderate cases and 5% for the mild cases.ConclusionsMany children who were admitted with TBI did not have access to early rehabilitation.

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