Celebrating 10 years of the BRILL Team | Latest news

In 2014 the Brain Injury Living Life (BRILL) Team was the first service of its kind in the UK, offering bespoke care for children with brain injuries.

The BRILL Team was set up as a pilot in 2014, following an application to the hospital’s Dragons Den programme. Ten years later the team have cared for more than 1200 children and young people.

The team support children with early assessments and aim to get them home as soon as possible. They provide early intensive neurorehabilitation from intensive care to the ward to home. They also provide early supported discharge and support return to education, as well as long-term follow ups.

The team offer programmes of care that are specific to each child, dependant on age, ability and injury. It could be learning to walk again, getting dressed, using a cutlery or even establishing different methods of communication.

Rachel Keetley, Clinical Specialist Children’s Physiotherapist, said: “We wanted to celebrate our 10-year anniversary, so decided to hold a ball. With more than 200 people attending and raising £9,800, we are going to hold a family fun day, to invite families to come together, offer peer support opportunities and inclusive and accessible sports and activities.  

“The Team has helped so many children and young people over the last ten years, so it was really special to come together and celebrate this. I am very proud to be part of the BRILL Team.”

Victoria Lyon, former patient, said: “I instantly trusted the team, they were great, always having my best interests at the forefront and wanting me to improve.

“They’re so person centred and friendly. At one point the whole team got together to play netball on the hospital roof with me and my family. They really helped me find myself again and they saved my life.

“While in hospital, I had a great relationship with my therapy assistant and physios which inspired me to give back and join the NHS to make a difference. I am now a therapy assistant on a stroke ward, and I love it.”

The Thompson family, whose daughter Ciya used the service after suffering from a brain haemorrhage in 2023, said: “I think every hospital needs a BRILL Team. Ciya wouldn’t be where she is today without the BRILL Team, they gave her life back. I can’t fault them.

“We’ll forever be grateful to the BRILL Team and QMC (Queen’s Medical Centre).”

Dr Jane Williams, Consultant Paediatrician, said: “More children and young people now survive acquired brain and spinal injuries, making the need for a paediatric rehabilitation service more important than ever. It has been shown an early proactive rehabilitation programme can on average allow children to be discharged two weeks early with improved satisfaction.

“The BRILL Team have had excellent results over the last ten years; I am excited to see what the next ten years will bring.”

Dr Denise Crozier, Consultant Paediatrician, said: “I’m so pleased that we were able to share some patient stories at the ball with those that attended to really demonstrate the incredible work that this team does and how it impacts on these children and young people and their families, whose life journey has been thrown in a different direction to what they could have ever imagined. In the words of one of these young people, the neurosurgeons saved their life, but the BRILL team gave them their life back.”

Michelle Dorman, Senior Community Fundraising Manager at Nottingham Hospitals Charity, said: "We're so grateful to the BRILL team for raising this fantastic amount of money as part of their tenth anniversary celebrations. The money the team raised through their charity ball will go back into helping children with brain injuries and their families through the family fun day. Thank you to everyone in the BRILL team, and all their supporters, for making this possible."