History
Lorem Ipsum
Background
Lorem Ipsum
Remit
Spinal cord injuries (SCI), whether from traumatic or non traumatic causes, are life changing. Highly specialised, multidisciplinary care in a specialist spinal cord injury centre, followed by comprehensive rehabilitation reduces complications, optimises treatment and long term outcomes and results in a significant life expectancy for the majority of this population.
Between 1994 and 2013, incidence in Scotland increased from 13.3 per million to 17 per million, this trend is replicated internationally. An increasingly elderly population has led to a growing number of falls resulting in a SCI. The demand for the service is therefore likely to increase as the population of Scotland ages.
Service
The Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde manages the acute injury and lifetime care of all patients with a traumatic spinal cord injury to maximise function and to prevent the complications of paralysis. This includes people with traumatic spinal cord injury and people suffering from an acute non traumatic injury to the spinal cord (for example spinal abscess or surgical injury) where it is identified that there are clinical and social benefits of intensive rehabilitation. The service was nationally designated in 1992.