Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport and former Minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, has welcomed the government’s newly published guidance on dealing with concussions in grassroots sport.
This is the first UK wide concussion guidance to be published to help coaches, match officials, teachers, parents and anyone else involved in grassroots sports to help identify, manage and prevent concussions. The guidance has been developed by clinicians, academics and governing bodies as a part of the Government’s Action Plan on Concussion.
‘If in doubt, sit them out’ is the strapline, making clear no-one should return to sport within 24 hours of a suspected concussion.
The guidelines encourage those involved in grassroots sport to recognise the signs of concussion, remove anyone suspected of being concussed, and return safely to daily activity.
There is also the recommendation to call NHS 111 within 24 hours of a potential concussion.
Intervening in the Urgent Question, Caroline took the opportunity to praise Gosport charity, Headway who work to improve life after brain injury, with support and information services, as well as to raise awareness of acquired brain injuries.
Caroline said:
“I would like to very warmly welcome these guidelines, a really important step forward. I’d also like to pay tribute to the Headway charity in my Gosport constituency, who do so much fantastic work supporting people with an acquired brain injury.
“They are always at pains to express to me how the impact of a concussion can vary, because everyone is different, but also the side effects can fluctuate; they can come and go.
“So, what more can be done moving forward from the guidelines to ensure that the right training is in place for coaches and for match officials to ensure that identification and action on concussion is always taken very swiftly?”
The responding Minister, the Rt. Hon. Stuart Andrew, said:
“I would like to thank my Rt. Hon. Friend. She’s absolutely right, and that is the exact purpose of these guidelines. It is for coaches, for referees, for teachers.
“We want to ensure that everybody has this information, so that they know how to recognise the symptoms of concussion, and how to deal with it.
“As she says, each person is different, so understanding how they need to treat that in the safe return to work and to further sport is a priority. Ensuring this information gets out there is going to be our key priority.”
