Devastating legacy of childhood head injuries revealed as action urged to ease agony

Scotland’s health officials are being urged to follow counterparts in England and update head-injury guidance to doctors to prevent devastating consequences in later life.

Campaigners fear a quarter of forgotten childhood injuries could inflict lifelong mental and physical health effects. These include hypopituitarism, a condition caused by damage to the pituitary gland at the base of the brain which can cause a range of symptoms including chronic fatigue and impairment of growth.

But, while health officials in England are updating guidelines on head trauma to raise awareness of the condition, Healthcare Improvement Scotland has no plans to do the same.

Luke Griggs, deputy chief executive of the brain injury charity Headway, says someone is admitted to hospital every 90 seconds in the UK with a brain injury. “While it is widely understood moderate and severe brain injury can have devastating effects,” he said, “it’s also very important for people to understand that even a seemingly minor head injury can have major consequences.

“Misdiagnoses of brain injury, particularly mild traumatic brain injury, or a complete lack of any diagnosis is common. This can mean long-term effects can be misinterpreted and the individual does not get the help and support they need.

“This can be a problem in children and adolescents. Their developing brains and hormonal changes can mask ongoing and persistent effects of concussion.” He said a major drive was now needed to improve the treatment of brain injuries.

“GPs need more help to identify mild traumatic brain injury, hospitals must do better at ensuring all headinjury patients discharged from A&E are given written details of warning signs to look out for, and sport must continue to improve the way it deals with concussion.”

Campaigner Joanne Lane believes her son suffered an unrecognised childhood brain injury that led to health problems later in life, causing him to take his own life in 2008.

She said: “We discovered he’d been suffering long-term effects of a head injury from falling out of a tree when he was seven. Christopher had been in a coma for several days afterwards.

“A slight facial paralysis disappeared quickly and we never gave it another thought. But that injury affected him for the rest of his life because his pituitary gland had been damaged. If we’d known, we would have made sure he got the right treatment.”

Scottish Conservative parliamentary candidate Miles Briggs is calling for an overhaul of guidelines. He said: “Clinical professionals should be encouraged to investigate and inform families of possible long-term effects so anyone presenting with issues later in life doesn’t have to wait years for full diagnosis and treatment.”

England’s health watchdog Nice said it was revising guidelines on head trauma and hypopituitarism.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland said: “There are no plans to update the current guidelines.”