News
Spinal cord injury awareness day 2026 (SCIAD)
SCIAD is an annual event that raises awareness about spinal cord injury (SCI) and sheds light on the challenges faced by over 105,000 people in the United Kingdom.
This spinal cord injury awareness day we will be bringing attention to the provision of spinal cord injury services and NHS England’s intention to transfer commissioning from national to local (ICB) level in April 2027.
SCIAD 2026 marks the launch of a new campaign ‘Keep it together’ (see below) which will be focussed on ending the postcode lottery and safeguarding spinal cord injury services.
We are coordinating some Parliamentary engagement that highlights the current issues and the APPG on SCI report published in October 2025, and will be asking the community to engage with their MPs about NHS SCI services, through a template letter on our website.
spinal cord inury awarensss day
NHS England has indicated that commissioning responsibility for adult and paediatric spinal cord injury services may transfer from national specialised commissioning to Integrated Care Boards from April 2027.
Spinal cord injury services are currently commissioned nationally because they are highly specialised, serve relatively small patient populations, and require nationally coordinated referral pathways and clinical expertise.
There are significant concerns across the spinal cord injury sector that transferring commissioning responsibility to 42 Integrated Care Boards risks increasing fragmentation within a pathway that is already under strain.
The recent APPG on Spinal Cord Injury Inquiry found that the current SCI pathway already suffers from fragmentation, variation in access to rehabilitation, and inconsistent access to long-term support and community reintegration.
Specialist Spinal Cord Injury Centres also face longstanding pressures, including limited bed capacity, ageing infrastructure, and years of underinvestment.
Write to your MP
We are asking that those within the SCI community support us by contacting your local MP, voicing your concern about the proposals and protect national coordination of spinal cord injury services.
To write to your local member of parliament:
- Find your local MP’s name and email.
- Download our letter template.
- Put in your MP’s name, add your own contact details and the date.
- Change the red text, and add any information about your experiences.
- Save and send to your MP.
download the letter template (.doc)FIND YOUR MP CONTACT DETAILS
We would love the spinal cord injured community to use the spotlight of this awareness day to share your own stories and experiences around this years theme.
Use the hashtag #SCIAD #SpinalCordInjuryAwarenessDay and tag SIA into your social media posts across all channels: @spinal_injuries (Instagram) and Spinal Injuries Association (Facebook), LinkedIn, BlueSky, Threads, Tik Tok and @spinalinjuries (X).