I NOTE with interest Margaret Symington’s letter (September 14) on support for brain-damaged patients. In 1985 I had a serious brain injury in a road traffic collision. I was comatose for about four weeks in the Institute of Neurological Sciences at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital before being transferred initially to an orthopaedic ward at the Southern (fractured humerus and ribs) and subsequently to my local hospital (where I also worked. I spent a considerable amount of time there before finally being discharged (don’t ask me how long – a neurosurgeon or neurologist could comment on the effects of temporal lobe damage). I was absent from work for approximately a year before returning for a further 10 or 11 before epilepsy – common in brain injuries – forced me to retire in my thirties.

At the time of my injury there was no formal support network and I must have presented my colleagues with the challenge of dealing with a “new mind” behind a familiar face. I accept that it will be expensive to provide dedicated therapy units for brain-damaged patients. Some have only minor physical problems, but all have at least some obvious or hidden psychological problems and their families, friends and others should be forewarned that damage to the most complicated organ in the body will have far-ranging effects.

Barry Lees,

12 Denholm Street, Greenock.

I WAS one of the first patients to be sent to the residential Murdostoun Castle Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit when it opened in 1990, having suffered a severe brain injury as a pedestrian after being knocked down. Back then it was owned by Scotcare, and to my knowledge has always been a private service provider.

I was lucky to be sent to the Murdostoun unit. The need for immediate skilled rehabilitation is vital after head trauma. I could not cope with the psychological/cognitive brain damage after all my physical injuries had healed, being sent to Murdostoun saved my life, they taught me how to function again.

Glasgow boasts a world-class Institute Of Neurological Sciences but only a private rehabilitation unit at Murdostoun that offers a full brain injury discipline rehabilitation.

My family suffered the same issues in 1990 as Margaret Symington reports due to Murdostoun’s country location. I wonder how much NHS money has been given to this private provider since 1990, I suspect more than enough to open its own brain injury rehabilitation unit, which is desperately needed.

Kenneth Gebbie,

121 Telford Road, East Kilbride.