Stroke Awareness Month - Hannah Le Blancq | Blog posts

Hello, my name is Hannah Le Blancq and I am a physiotherapist within the MY Therapy community stroke and neuro team.

I qualified as a physiotherapist in 2014 and initially worked in Berkshire and Hampshire after university. I found a passion for working with neurological patients and specialised in this in 2016, working on a rotation through inpatient and community stroke services. I moved to Mid Yorkshire in 2018 and initially worked on the inpatient wards A2 at Pinderfields and ward 4 and 5 at Dewsbury.

On A2, I would complete initial assessments with patients shortly after admission to hospital with a stroke and commence rehabilitation, looking at their movement, strength, co-ordination, vision, balance, sensation, mobility and more. We would then typically work on progressing mobility – this could be varied, from supporting someone to be able to sit out of bed, to working on how someone could control their arms and legs or helping someone to complete 2 flights of stairs to be able to return home!

I would work closely with the whole MDT (nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists etc) and patients loved ones to care for patients while in hospital. As a team we would work towards what patients wanted to achieve (goals) and safe discharge out of hospital.

I loved working closely with the MDT, learning from each other and having regular meetings to ensure we were communicating well about plans for patients. It was also so interesting to see patients in the first 24hours after their stroke, providing support, working out how the stroke had affected them and how I could help them progress.

The main thing I love about my job is working closely with individuals, finding out what is important and meaningful to them and aiming to achieve it!

In 2019 I moved to working in MY Therapy community and now complete assessment and treatment within patient homes, soon after discharge from hospital. I work very closely with occupational therapists and technical instructors in the team, working out treatment plans, joint sessions with patients and discharge plans from the service. We link with the stroke association, psychologists, wider community healthcare and charity groups to ensure patients get the right support once home. We also complete regular training within the whole team, aiming to increase and share our knowledge and learning.

Working in the community has it’s own challenges but gives me chance to get to know patients  and their loved ones in their own environment, I feel this allows me to connect more with individuals and see directly what is important to them. For example, if their goal is to be able to get back to gardening we can see and assess immediately how we can break that down and hopefully make it achievable.

I also really enjoy working out how you can use household items to support with rehab when a fully equipped gym isn’t available – from tins of beans as dumbbells to weighing scales as small step practice, community working gives me chance to work on problem solving skills every day!

I genuinely love working as a neuro physio and although it is very challenging at times, there’s nothing quite like the rewarding feeling you get when you help someone get back something they’ve lost through stroke.