Neurorehabilitation · London
Specialist consultant-led rehabilitation for adults after traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid haemorrhage, hypoxic-ischaemic injury, brain tumour surgery, encephalitis or meningitis. Intensive residential programmes, transitional community rehab and specialist outpatient care.
Consultant-led MDTs with dedicated ABI caseloads, working across post-acute inpatient, transitional and community settings.
Pulse Atlas is an independent information library. It does not provide or arrange rehabilitation.
What ABI is
ABI is an umbrella term for injury to a brain that developed normally. It sits apart from congenital and developmental brain conditions - and rehabilitation is planned differently.
Acquired brain injury includes traumatic brain injury (TBI) from falls, road traffic collisions, assaults and sport; subarachnoid haemorrhage from ruptured aneurysms; hypoxic-ischaemic injury after cardiac arrest, drowning or overdose; brain tumour surgery; and infections such as encephalitis and meningitis. Stroke is often described as an ABI too, and shares much of the same rehabilitation pathway.
Everyone who experiences an ABI adjusts from a known baseline. Family and friends remember the person as they were before, and part of good rehabilitation is holding space for that grief while building the new practical routines that recovery needs.
ABI is not the same as a congenital or developmental brain condition such as cerebral palsy, autism or an inherited neurological disorder. Those conditions are present from birth or early childhood and follow their own therapy and support pathways, usually within paediatric and lifelong disability services rather than adult neurorehabilitation.
Consequences of ABI can include physical change (weakness, balance, fatigue), cognitive change (attention, memory, executive function), communication change, and change in mood, behaviour and awareness. A specialist multidisciplinary team assesses all of these together and builds one coherent plan.
Indicative pricing
In short
Inpatient neurorehabilitation £2,800 to £5,500 per week. A comprehensive 12-week programme £30,000 to £65,000.
| Service | Indicative range | Typical duration | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consultant neurorehabilitation assessment | £320–£480 | 60–90 min | Report in 7 days |
| Outpatient specialist rehab session | £180–£320 | 45–60 min | Weekly |
| Post-acute inpatient neurorehabilitation (per week) | £2,800–£5,500 | 5 days/week | 4–24 week block |
| Comprehensive 12-week day programme | £30,000–£65,000 | 15–25 h/week | 12 weeks |
| Neuropsychology assessment (WAIS, BADS, HADS) | £850–£1,600 | 3–5 h | 10 days |
| Vocational rehabilitation programme | £3,200–£8,500 | 8–16 weeks | Rolling start |
Many ABI patients have a personal injury or clinical negligence claim in progress. Coordinated rehabilitation is often funded under the Rehabilitation Code through case managers from Barings, Bush and Company, or the Case Management Society UK - and providers often liaise directly with solicitors and case managers.
Levels of care
Rehabilitation moves through phases. The right setting today is rarely the right setting six months from now.
Post-acute inpatient neurorehabilitation
Specialist Level 1 and 2 units with medical cover and daily therapy for people not yet safe at home.
Transitional community rehab
Residential or supported-living settings that bridge from hospital to home while rehearsing independence.
Outpatient specialist rehabilitation
Weekly consultant-led sessions with individual therapy strands, once the person is safely at home.
Vocational rehabilitation
Structured return-to-work assessment, graded plans, employer liaison and job coaching.
Specialist MDT
A consultant neurorehabilitation physician leads the team. Around that consultant sit a neurophysiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist, neuropsychologist and cognitive rehabilitation specialist, vocational rehab specialist, orthotist, medical social worker and family therapist.
Everyone works to the same weekly goals, with joint sessions where they add value and shared updates for the family. Specialist areas include behavioural rehabilitation for post-ABI aggression, executive dysfunction management, memory rehabilitation, awareness training and community re-integration.
The journey
One coordinator from first message to community handover, working alongside your NHS team and any medico-legal case manager already in place.
Post-acute inpatient neurorehabilitation, transitional community rehab, or specialist outpatient sessions. Structured therapy 5 days a week, tailored to tolerance.
Physiotherapy, OT, SLT, neuropsychology and vocational rehab run in a single plan, with weekly goal review and shared family updates.
Vocational rehabilitation, driving assessment, community access work, family psycho-education and warm handovers to Headway groups.
Common causes
The cause of the injury shapes the rehab plan. What matters most is matching the plan to the person, not the diagnostic label.
Road traffic collisions, falls, assaults and sporting injuries. Ranges from concussion to severe diffuse axonal injury.
Bleeding around the brain, often from a ruptured aneurysm. Cognitive, fatigue and mood consequences long after the bleed is treated.
Brain injury after cardiac arrest, drowning or prolonged low oxygen. Memory, executive function and awareness are commonly affected.
Neurorehabilitation after craniotomy or resection, alongside oncology follow-up. Timed around radiotherapy and chemotherapy schedules.
Autoimmune or viral encephalitis, including post-COVID and herpes simplex. Often complex cognitive and behavioural profiles.
Bacterial meningitis with residual cognitive, fatigue and sensorineural change.
Diffuse cortical and subcortical injury from prolonged hypoxia. Recovery is possible but slow and non-linear.
ABI is acquired after normal early development. Distinct from cerebral palsy, congenital brain malformations or developmental disability.
Evidence-based programmes
Programme types with the strongest evidence base in adult ABI, and the specialist strands that sit inside them.
Level 1 and 2 specialist units with medical cover, nursing and daily therapy for people not yet safe at home. Typical stay 6 to 24 weeks.
Residential or supported-living settings that bridge from hospital to home, rehearsing real-world routines and independence.
CDTP model: 4 to 5 days a week of coordinated therapy, groups and family sessions, most often over 8 to 16 weeks.
Community-integrated programme drawing on the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust approach, blending individual therapy with group work.
Structured cognitive therapy per INCOG guidelines: attention, memory, executive function, and social cognition.
Work assessment, graded return-to-work plans, employer liaison and job coaching. Often decisive for long-term outcome.
Specialist support for post-ABI aggression, disinhibition and impulsivity, using positive behavioural support frameworks.
Practical education for partners, parents and adult children, plus family therapy where roles and relationships have shifted.
What to expect
Rehabilitation is safe and well tolerated. What matters is the honest conversation about intensity, fatigue and how family life reshapes around it.
The steepest gains happen in the first 6 to 12 months, but meaningful change continues for years - particularly with the right intensity.
Neuro-fatigue is often the biggest limiting factor. Sessions are paced, rest is planned into the day, and pushing through rarely helps.
Low mood, anxiety and grief for the pre-injury self are common. Neuropsychology sits inside the plan from the start, not as an afterthought.
Post-ABI aggression, disinhibition and reduced awareness respond best to structured behavioural rehab, not to general mental health services.
Family psycho-education and practical training on communication, routine and boundaries make more difference than any single therapy exercise.
Private rehab complements NHS neurorehabilitation. Plans and reports should be shared with the NHS team, with consent, so the plan is joined up.
Your assessment report
Whichever team you see, the report keeps to the same shape.
Cause of ABI, time since injury, current setting (acute, subacute, community) and any medical or seizure risk that shapes rehab.
Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE), Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory (MPAI-4), WAIS cognitive profile, BADS executive function and HADS mood.
What is working, what is blocking real-life participation, and the goals the person and family have chosen - measured with the Community Integration Questionnaire.
Read this first: setting, intensity, MDT composition, vocational and family strands, and review points at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months.
Medico-legal
Many people with ABI have a personal injury or clinical negligence claim in progress. Under the Rehabilitation Code, rehabilitation is often funded and coordinated through an independent case manager from firms such as Barings, Bush and Company, or the Case Management Society UK. Providers often work directly with solicitors and case managers so care can start without waiting for settlement.
Peer support
Individual therapy is only part of the picture. Local Headway groups, UKABIF resources and specialist peer communities give people a place to be understood and to rebuild the social life ABI so often quietly takes away.
Family psycho-education
Structured education for partners, parents and adult children on cognitive change, fatigue, mood and boundaries, plus family therapy where roles and relationships have shifted. This is one of the highest-impact strands of rehabilitation.
Recognised by major UK insurers
Cover for neurorehabilitation varies by insurer and by policy, and comprehensive multi-week programmes often need pre-authorisation.
Frequently asked
Quick answers on timing, duration, insurance, compensation funding and what happens next.
ABI happens after normal early brain development. It follows a specific event - a stroke, a head injury, a bleed, a period without oxygen, an infection or tumour surgery - and the person and family adjust to change from a known baseline. Congenital and developmental brain conditions are present from birth or early childhood and follow a different rehabilitation path.
Early rehabilitation begins in the acute hospital, often within days. Post-acute inpatient neurorehabilitation typically starts once the person is medically stable, sometimes within 2 to 4 weeks. Community and outpatient programmes can start at any point from discharge onwards, including years after the original injury.
Post-acute inpatient stays commonly run 6 to 24 weeks depending on injury severity and progress. Comprehensive day programmes usually run 8 to 16 weeks. Programmes usually review formally at around 6 weeks and adjust intensity, setting or focus as recovery moves through its phases.
Most major UK insurers fund neurorehabilitation when medically indicated, usually as a capped inpatient stay or a defined block of outpatient sessions. Cover for comprehensive multi-week programmes varies and often needs pre-authorisation.
Many people with ABI have a personal injury or clinical negligence claim in progress. Rehabilitation is often funded through the Rehabilitation Code, coordinated by an independent case manager from organisations such as Barings, Bush and Company, or the Case Management Society UK. Rehabilitation providers often liaise directly with solicitors and case managers so care can start without waiting for settlement.
Recovery does not stop at discharge. Most people move into a longer-term community phase: maintenance outpatient sessions, vocational support, driving reassessment, community access work and Headway peer groups. Good programmes plan the handover early so the transition feels supported rather than sudden.
Related treatments
Consultant-led rehabilitation after ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke.
Learn moreSpecialist SLT for aphasia after stroke, brain injury or brain tumour.
Learn moreSwallowing therapy after stroke, brain injury or head and neck cancer.
Learn moreBalance and dizziness rehabilitation after vestibular injury or concussion.
Learn moreStructured concussion rehabilitation using the VOMS assessment framework.
Learn moreThe wider stroke rehabilitation picture and what private care adds.
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