Name: Police Treatment Centres

Background

Startling statistics compiled by police forces across England, Scotland and Wales reveal that approximately 70 Police Officers a day are assaulted in the line of duty, equating to one every 20 minutes. Purposely designed Police Treatment Centres (PTCs) have been established across the UK, to help rehabilitate officers injured in the line of duty.

There are currently two PTCs, one in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and the other at Castlebrae in Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland. Together, the centres care for more than 4,000 serving and retired police officers every year, providing intensive residential physiotherapy to ensure injured officers are back on duty, serving the public and the communities in which they live, as soon as possible.

The centres are operated as a charity, with each serving officer, across all police forces, including British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the Ministry of Defence Police, currently donating approximately £1.30 a week to their upkeep.

How did the Blue Lamp Foundation help?

The Blue Lamp Foundation has donated £60,000 to help in the continued refurbishment and work of the PTCs. The donation, when combined with the donations of officers themselves, and a £500,000 donation from the Home Office, plus a £250,000 grant from the Police Dependents Trust, has helped to meet £1.3 million of the total £3 million cost of refurbishment of the Harrogate PTC, bringing its centres facilities up to modern standards.

This money has helped to bring the 23 bedrooms and the patients Blue Lounge, up to modern standards, with two rooms especially designed and refurbished for patients with poor mobility and bariatric issues.

The impact this help had on the individual’s life

Research, in hospitals across the UK, has shown that bright and modern surroundings help patients improve their health more quickly. This has been borne out by the very positive feedback received from patients about their recovery and the overall standards of the facilities in which they are making this recovery.

The 23 bedrooms at the Harrogate PTC were outdated and poorly designed and have now been refurbished to include modern en-suite shower rooms. The rooms also all have new windows, making them warmer and brighter. The patient’s lounge has received a total makeover, including new specialist furniture specifically targeted at helping police officers who have suffered back injuries.

The future

As with most charities, the PTCs rely on regular donations to fund their continued work. While 88% of its funding comes from serving police officers, it is feared that cuts in the number of serving officers looks certain to affect the funding of the PTCs, with a shortfall of approximately £500,000 predicted. The PTCs need to look at new revenue streams and donations to fund their work in the future, helping injured officers back onto the beat.

As well as funds to meet the day-to-day running costs of the centres, more funding is required to fund capital requirements. Demand on the services of the PTCs centres in Harrogate and Scotland, continue to grow and there is increasing pressure on the facilities, with other areas in need of modernisation and refurbishment to better meet the needs if the officers attending for vital treatment.

PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation continues to work closely with the PTC in Harrogate and has referred officers who have contacted the charity for support and assistance after being injured in the line of duty.  The Foundation has been able to fund a stay at the Centre for these officers who were not covered by membership of the Police Federation.

HRH The Duke of York officially reopened the refurbished facilities in 2013 and heard about the support of The Blue Lamp Foundation as part of that visit.

Name: Nick Barman

Background 

48-year-old Nick Barman is a Hampshire Police Constable, working as a Road Policing Unit (RPU), who has been with the force for 23 years. He is based at Whitchurch, in North Hampshire.

Whilst responding to an accident on the A31 at Four Marks, near Alton in Hampshire, on February 4, 2013, an Audi car he was overtaking, swerved without warning, clipping the front of the BMW R1200 motorcycle Nick was riding. At the time of the collision he was travelling at a speed of 130 mph. Unable to regain control of the motorcycle, Nick hit a storm drain in the central reservation, causing the bike to cartwheel.

Nick was thrown into the handlebars, breaking both legs and his knees, before being catapulted through the air for approximately 300 feet, travelling over the heads of the paramedics tending to the accident that Nick was en route to. On landing, the motorcycle skidded some distance before colliding with a stationery vehicle. As a result, Nick broke his left ankle, his pelvis in four places, his little toe, and his lower back. On collision with the stationery vehicle, Nick broke his left shoulder and several ribs, collapsing his left lung and stopping his heart. Nick was revived by Paramedics attending the original accident. The Southampton Air Ambulance flew to Southampton General Hospital (SGH) to collect a surgeon, who was flown back to the scene to operate at the roadside to restart Nick’s heart and stabilise him, before he was airlifted to SGH, where he was put on a life support machine in ICU.

Initially Nick was expected to be a double amputee, and to never walk again because the injuries to his legs were so severe. However, 30 hours of surgery, and equipment which the Blue Lamp Foundation helped to fund, has rebuilt Nick’s broken body and he is now on the road to a full recovery, although that is expected to take at least another two years.

How did the Blue Lamp Foundation help?

Nick found the Blue Lamp Foundation through the charity’s local champion in Basingstoke. Initially he dismissed the information he was provided with because he was at too early a stage in his recovery. As Nick is 6ft 2inches tall, his pride would not allow him to sit in a wheelchair. He wanted to be out and about, and didn’t want to rely on the help of others to bathe or change him. After revisiting the help available from the Blue Lamp Foundation, Nick decided to apply for a grant from them to aid his rehabilitation.

How was the help delivered? 

The Blue Lamp Foundation approved a grant of £884 to pay for a Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) machine and a bath lift to help Nick in and out of the bath. CPM machines, in particular, are used in the first phase of rehabilitation, following soft tissue surgical procedures. A CPM machine helps to control post-operative pain, reduce inflammation, provide passive motion in a specific plane of movement, and protect the healing repair of the tissue. The device constantly moves the affected joint through a controlled range of movement. It also allows for the improved movement of synovial fluid to allow for better diffusion of nutrients into damaged cartilage and the diffusion of other materials out, such as blood and waste products. It also helps to limit the formation of fibrous scar tissue in the joint, which can decrease the range of future motion.

The impact this help had on the individual’s life 

Following his accident, Nick lost all the muscles in his legs, with ligaments taken from other parts of his body to turn into new muscle. Before the award of the grant from the Blue Lamp Foundation, Nick was washing at the kitchen sink and had to travel to his girlfriend’s grandmother’s house if he wanted to shower.

The use of the CPM equipment, in particular, has really benefitted Nick, especially after his latest bout of surgery, to get his muscles working again. This, combined with his passion for his job, is driving him to get back to as normal a life as he can. He is now walking with the aid of leg braces and a crutch, something the trauma surgeons initially thought would be impossible.

The future 

Nick has undergone what he has called “the longest six months of my life.” He requires future surgery for his injuries, with his latest operation requiring 11 weeks of recovery. Whilst this has set him back, overall, it should improve his future recovery. He hopes to make a full recovery, and to one day, injuries permitting, to return to the force as a frontline officer, and to even return to the saddle of a motorcycle.

 

Name: Fire Fighters Charity

Background

The Fire Fighters Charity was established in 1943 to help wounded fire fighters and support their families during World War II. Its basic premise is to help fire fighters who put their lives on the line every day to save lives. It supports injured firefighters, and in the result of their death, their dependents. It provides help to fire fighters when they need to recover from injury, surgery and illness, so they can return back to serving and protecting local communities as soon as possible.

The Blue Lamp Foundation was given the all clear by the Charities Commission to extend its work to help all injured emergency service personnel and their families. The charity not only provides financial assistance, but can also support other UK-based emergency services welfare organisations, including organisations like the Fire Fighters Charity, to utilise its infrastructure and resources.

How did the Blue Lamp Foundation help?

The Blue Lamp Foundation has provided £60,000 of funding to help the Fire Fighters Charity to develop a programme of support that will allow it to provide an even higher quality of service to an increasing number of fire fighters and their families.

In particular it the funding will help in the development of new psychological support, in particular mental health and emotional well-being, as often the scars of a fire are emotional and not physical.

How the help was delivered?

The donation from the Blue Lamp Foundation has been put to immediate use, in the development of the new programme of emotional support. The Fire Fighters Charity provides a range of advice on the emotional needs of its members, and the psychological effects of fire. In particular it has developed a programme, including a number of factsheets, to help its members deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and issues around self-harm.

To aid in emotional recuperation it also provides one and two week breaks at its specialist centres in Devon, Cumbria and West Sussex, designed to help those who have suffered injury, illness, stress or bereavement as the result of fire. The centre in Cumbria, also provides on-site nursing care, for more severe cases.

All rehabilitation programmes are adapted according to the client’s needs. Neurological physiotherapy, dealing with conditions affecting the nervous system, is also provided to those who require it.

The impact this help had on the individual’s life

The Fire Fighters Charity receives no Government funding, and is therefore totally reliant on donations from its supporters. It currently costs approximately £9 million a year to keep the charity running.

The charity has extended its services, making them available seven days a week, at its centres across the UK. It also provides a 12-day rolling programme of support, enabling service users to choose four, seven or ten day services. This allows for a bespoke programme of support to meet individual need. Rehabilitation at any of the specialist centres is targeted at the whole person, realising that the way a person feels is just as important as the way they look, or any physical disability.

Numerous beneficiaries have taken advantage of the support available from the psychological therapy team, while attending the centres for physical rehabilitation. On average the Fire Fighters Charity help approximately 2,500 fire fighters and their families recuperate from illness, stressful situations or bereavement, each year.

A survey conducted by the Fire Fighters Charity, gathered responses from more than 1,000 beneficiaries, who agreed that the charity had made a positive impact on all aspects of their lives.

The future

The Fire Fighters Charity continues to work to improve the lives of its beneficiaries and their families. It continues to develop new services, including the development of psychological and emotional services mentioned in this case study. It will continue to target support at individual need, to get the most out of its staff and the facilities which it operates.

An intensive internal review has led the Fire Fighters Charity to a greater understanding of nursing and personal care support in facilitating access to rehabilitation. As a result plans are being developed to create recuperation service that is responsive to real need, providing a more active and positive experience in supporting its beneficiaries. The charity is also developing greater community based and outreach support targeted at harder to reach groups and beneficiaries.