Progress on work to create head injury initiative in Renfrewshire welcomed

Progress made on work to create a new initiative for Renfrewshire residents living with an acquired brain injury has been welcomed by an elected member.

A total of £300,000 has been set aside for a community-led model of support – which will be commissioned for three years – after the closure of the Quarriers service in June. It is expected an independent consultation, which will engage with potential clients and their families, will be complete by either the end of this month or beginning of October.

A tender process will follow and recommendations for an award are set to go before a future finance, resources and customer services policy board. The update was included in a report to the council's leadership board on Wednesday – at which Councillor Iain McMillan, Labour group leader, saluted the steps taken so far.

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However, the Johnstone South and Elderslie politician sought clarity on the level of communication with previous service users – warning that any "void of information" could cause "disinterest". He said: "That's moving along. Obviously we had a discussion about that a number of months ago, so I'm glad to see it's moving along and we can get some resolution in the next couple of months.

"But the specific question I've got is – is there any dialogue with previous service users? Have we been keeping them up to date with what's happening? Because I know sometimes when there's a void of information people get a bit fed up and move away and are disinterested, so I'm just keen to know if we're keeping these people up to date about any potential new service."

Laura McIntyre, head of policy and partnerships, responded: "What I can confirm is that in the next fortnight we intend to communicate with previous service users to invite them to a range of consultation events which will be through a survey but also face to face supported by carers or whoever would be most appropriate to support people that might wish to use the service.

"I have had some queries that have come in over the course of the summer and offered to keep people in touch when those events came up, so that's what we will do over the course of the next fortnight."

Work has also been carried out to identify existing initiatives across Renfrewshire that help people with a brain injury and their families. A report to the board explained: "These supports would be additional to any targeted support which would be offered through any new service model, but in the interim period may provide much needed advocacy, advice and social connections."

Meanwhile, elected members have been told a petition for judicial review – lodged recently in the Court of Session in relation to the decommissioning of the previous head injury service – has been "withdrawn".

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