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Salisbury
- The Duke of Cornwall Spinal Injuries Centre
- Salisbury District Hospital
- Odstock Road
- Salisbury
- SP2 8BJ
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- Telephone: 01722 336262
- www.salisbury.nhs.uk/
Contents
Peer Support Officer
My name is Sue Benefer, Peer Support Officer at the Salisbury SCI Centre. I had a spinal
abscess in August 1979 which left me paralysed at T4 complete. I had been married for four weeks, and had only known my husband, Ian, for four months before we married. We worked through all the problems that come with spinal cord injury and I had my first child in December 1980 and went on to have three more children after that. Ian and I are still together 27 years on. Two years after my first child was born I wanted to do some sort of work but did not want any one else looking after my son, so I did a bit of childminding for another young boy before going on to work for the local Council as an Access Officer, which involved me visiting various buildings to advise on the needs of disabled people in respect of access. I moved house in 1999 and started volunteer work at Salisbury for SIA, eventually taking on the role of Peer Support Officer, which is a job I love doing.
Centre Staff Members
- Mr A Soopramanien - Consultant in Spinal Injuries
- Mr T Tromans - Consultant in Spinal Injuries
- Wendy Slater - General Manager
- Rachael Stowell - Community Liaison Sister
Visitor Accommodation
There is a 'League of Friends' bungalow and five rooms on the ward available for use by close relatives of acute patients, at a cost of £10 per night. There is also a list of local B&Bs available from the Centre
Upcoming Events
Details of all forthcoming events are available from the hospital website.
Ongoing Research
Thrive Tele Medicine is a new tele-rehabilitation service offered by the Salisbury SCI Centre, which aims to reduce waiting times and patient travelling costs using a video camera link between medical staff and newly discharged SCI patients. This service is available to those with a level of between C4-L2, with the idea being to be able to quickly refer any potential problems to the correct member of a multi-disciplinary team for immediate treatment advice via the video link. Links are made weekly for the first two months following discharge, reducing to twice monthly in the three to six months thereafter.
Accessible Recreational Facilities
In the main Salisbury is very accessible, with most shops and restaurants having good wheelchair access and/or toilet facilities, and friendly staff who are happy to assist where access is not so good. However the local cinema has its main screening theatre upstairs (no lift access), so you may have to wait until the film you wish to see is shown in one of the ground floor screening areas.
Before discharge
- Make sure you have an adequate supply of prescription drugs to take home with you
- Make sure you have a good General Practitioner
- Make sure that any equipment you require is at home before you leave
- Make sure you have any necessary funding in place
- Make sure that you have a contact list from the SCI Centre in case of problems, and
don't be frightened to get in touch with them if you are at all worried
General Hospital Experience
I was treated in a General Hospital when first injured, so I missed out on all the specialist information and knowledge that you get from being treated in a SCI Centre, and also did not have the benefit of being able to talk to other patients in the same situation as I was.
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