Kildare woman highlights over 50% neurorehabilitation bed shortfall on World Brain Day

Kildare woman, Aideen Phelan, and the Neurological Alliance Ireland (NAI) marked this year’s World Brain Day (22/07/2025) at an event in Peamount Healthcare Dublin, where they highlighted to attending Ministers and TDs that Ireland has less than half of the neurorehabilitation beds needed for its population.

Forty neurological charities came together at the event to call on the government to deliver on its Programme for Government pledges to neurorehabilitation in the upcoming budget.

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Ireland has a 58% shortfall in the number of neurorehabilitation beds for patients recovering from conditions such as stroke, acquired brain injury and those living with progressive conditions like multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to develop more specialist inpatient neurorehabilitation beds in response to this critical shortage.

Aideen Phelan, a mother of four from Naas, Co. Kildare, suffered a brain aneurysm aged just 32. She underwent six life-saving surgeries at Beamont before being admitted to Peamount for rehabilitation.

Her language and mobility had been severely affected. She was told she would be in Peamount for three to six months and might never return to work. Aideen returned home and was back to work in the bookies within five weeks – Peamount say she’s one of their greatest success stories.

She said: “When I first met the team at Peamount, I could barely string a sentence together, today I cannot say enough about the vital care and support they gave me to recover and regain my independence and my life.”

“One in 50 people have aneurysms, some will never even know they’ve had one, but for some, it will be life-changing, even critical. I was lucky in many ways, and the success story of my recovery is down to the crucial support I received in Peamount. That care and support shouldn’t come down to luck – everyone in Ireland who needs that rehabilitation should have access to it.

“The medical team at Beamont saved my life, but Peamount helped me heal so that I could return to my life.”

Speaking at the World Brain Day event, Magdalen Rogers, CEO of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, stated that more than 175 neurorehabilitation beds are still needed, despite a national framework published in 2019 promising 306.

She said: “Over 16% of people in Ireland are currently living with a neurological condition.

“Behind these statistics are the individuals and their families struggling to come to terms with the effects of a neurological condition and they have a huge fear that they won’t get access to the specialist care they need.”

“Our recent survey of 700 people living with a neurological condition across Ireland showed a staggering 76% had not been able to access inpatient neurorehabilitation when they needed it.”

Tanya King, CEO of Peamount Healthcare, said: “As the regional site for HSE Dublin Midlands for the development of inpatient neurorehabilitation, Peamount Healthcare opened 10 beds at the end of 2020. Since then, over 400 patients have received the specialist inpatient rehabilitation that they need.”

Regional investment needed in Budget 2026

The NAI are calling for investment in 45 beds in the upcoming budget to begin to address the shortfall of neurorehabilitation beds across the Midlands and South West. 

The NAI highlighted at the World Brain Day event, that gaps in neurorehabilitation services across Ireland mean a quarter of those surveyed in its recent ‘The Right Care in the Right Place’ report have never been able to access neurorehabilitation.

A high proportion of the 700 individuals who responded to the survey also reported being unable to access neurorehabilitation services in the past 12 months:

• 78% in the North West

• 73% in the South East

• 62% in Dublin

• 58% in the Midlands

In addition to its call to address the shortage of neurorehabilitation beds, the NAI is also seeking investment in four community neurorehabilitation teams for the North West, North Dublin/North East, South East and Midlands.

The NAI represents over forty charities advocating for the rights of over 860,000 people in Ireland living with a neurological condition.

For more information, visit www.nai.ie.