Helen Neale

Helen has extensive experience supporting individuals with orthopaedic and musculoskeletal conditions arising from trauma, elective surgery, joint replacement, and arthritis, often involving chronic pain, reduced mobility, and limb weakness.  She has also completed comprehensive assessments for clients with spinal fractures, co-ordinating long-term equipment, adaptation, care, and accommodation requirements.

Her practice includes experience in children’s and transitional services, supporting young people with cerebral palsy, neurological conditions, learning disabilities, and complex developmental needs as they transition into adulthood.  This role requires detailed knowledge of child development and the ability to distinguish between age-related developmental expectations and condition-related impairment.

A substantial proportion of Helen’s caseload involves clients with neurological impairments resulting from traumatic brain injury, acquired brain injury, stroke, Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Motor Neurone Disease (MND), Huntington’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease, frequently accompanied by cognitive, behavioural, and mental health complications. She has presented cases at Vulnerable Adult Panels to secure funding approvals and has developed discharge pathways into long-term residential and nursing care settings where required.

Helen also supports clients with complex medical needs arising from internal injuries and chronic health conditions, including catheter care, stoma care, PEG feeding systems, ventilatory support, oxygen therapy, kidney failure management, and colostomy and ileostomy care.

As Helen works with clients who have chronic and lifelong conditions, she is skilled at managing their changing needs over a long period of time.  This will sometimes ultimately conclude with her supporting the client and their family with end of life/palliative care.

In addition, Helen works as a Case Manager for a complex client following settlement, co-ordinating and overseeing all aspects of the client’s ongoing rehabilitation and care.  This includes managing multidisciplinary input, organising and monitoring care packages, sourcing and co-ordinating specialist equipment and adaptations, arranging rehabilitation programmes and medical appointments, and ensuring continuity of care to support the client’s long-term recovery, independence and quality of life.

Helen completes full functional assessments of clients within their home and local community.  She assesses for and provides standard and specialist equipment to maintain and/or compensate for loss of independence/safety.  She considers provision of assistive technology to monitor environments for clients with vulnerabilities such as cognitive impairment, dementia and epilepsy is included within this.  Helen also considers provision of moving and handling equipment and training for agency staff and informal carers.  She assesses the suitability of a client’s property and where this is not considered to be suitable Helen completes a Housing Needs Report and makes recommendations for a new property or minor or major adaptations to the existing property.

Helen also reviews the appropriateness of care packages for clients needing continuing care at home.  This involves double handed care reviews post discharge from acute hospital settings, setting up new simple and complex high-level care packages (including 24-hour care support), adjusting existing care packages and reviewing all single and double handed care plans including applications for direct payment funding.

In her current role Helen often works with young adults and supports them with the transition between paediatric and adult services.  Prior to this, she worked in a paediatric service with children up to the age of 18 with learning/behavioural difficulties, acquired or congenital physical difficulties.  Helen completed functional assessments with children and their families within their own homes and assessed for and provided similar equipment and adaptations as within adult services, with the addition of wheelchair assessments.  She has former supporting knowledge of this from a 5-year role as a qualified childcare practitioner prior to training as an OT.

In addition to this, Helen works as a Case Manager for a client with complex needs following settlement.  In this role, she co-ordinates rehabilitation and support services, liaises with treating professionals and agencies, monitors the client’s ongoing care and therapy provision, and facilitates access to appropriate equipment, adaptations and community resources to support long-term independence and quality of life.

Helen has worked as a Care Expert Witness with Jacqueline Webb & Co since 2017.  She has completed numerous reports, participated in Case Conferences and Expert Meetings, and has completed Courtroom Skills Familiarisation.

2025-Present
Case Manager
Integrated Case Management Limited

2006-Present
Occupational Therapist
Lewisham Council, Adult Community Health & Social Care

2009
Occupational Therapist
Lewisham Council, Children’s Services

2004-2006
Occupational Therapy Assistant
South London & Maudsley NHS, Assertive Outreach Team