Unique and United on World Cerebral Palsy Day 2025

This year, World Cerebral Palsy Day falls on 6 October with a theme of #Unique and United'. The Kingsley Napley's Medical Negligence and Personal Injury team strongly support the vision of this global movement – which is about recognition of the 50 million people who are living with cerebral palsy and striving for a more accessible and inclusive world.
 

According to World Cerebral Palsy Day ‘cerebral palsy is the most common lifelong physical disability, yet it remains one of the most underfunded and overlooked disability and global health issues’.  

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological condition caused by brain damage, which can occur during childbirth, that permanently affects body movement and muscle coordination. There are four main types: spastic CP where muscles are stiff and tight causing difficulty with movement, dyskinetic CP where muscles switch between stiffness and floppiness, causing uncontrolled body movements or spasms, ataxic CP which is typically characterised by balance and co-ordination problems and mixed CP where a person has symptoms of more than one type of cerebral palsy.

In my role as a specialist birth injury lawyer, regularly working with clients affected by cerebral palsy, I am aware of the many barriers and challenges that are faced but I also see what can be achieved with early interventions and the right therapies and support.

Raising awareness is vital. Our Kingsley Napley team support the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity (DVLCC) which works tirelessly to help children under five with CP and other conditions to access much needed therapies, including speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and music therapy. It is my understanding that many families who rely on this charity do so because they are unable to access such therapies through the NHS, due to long waiting lists and limited resources.   

New CP Framework
 

This year NHS England published a long-awaited framework to improve early identification, assessment and intervention for children and young people with cerebral palsy. According to NHS England ‘children and young people and their families and carers face a system that is fractured, complex to navigate and often uncoordinated’.

The new framework recognises that multidisciplinary intervention is imperative in all areas of health and development. It states clearly that there should be services ‘to support early assessment, early intervention, and access to specialist care for children and young people living with cerebral palsy’.

Parents whose views were sought by NHS England confirmed that, due to challenges in accessing NHS services, they were seeking some care privately. This is certainly in line with my experience. Those who are successful in bringing legal claims are usually able to obtain funds for private care and therapies. But for others who cannot seek compensation, the landscape is very different. We hope that the new framework will improve the provision of NHS services in a coordinated fashion.

Medical Negligence Claims
 

Our team recognises the unique needs of each child and young person with cerebral palsy that we represent. Our aim is to ensure that wherever possible an individualised financial package incorporating the provision of specialist equipment, care, and treatment needs – often coordinated by a specialist case manager – as well as accommodation priorities, is put together and started as soon as possible. This can be achieved once liability is admitted and an interim payment on account of compensation is secured. We are highly experienced in obtaining interim payments to fund immediate needs.

If you have concerns about medical treatment that may have caused injury to your child we recommend seeking legal advice as soon as possible. If your child’s case is part of the NHS Early Notification Scheme, we can assist and advise during that process or where any other investigation has been started (for example as part of the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations programme – MNSI).

Resources
 

For those seeking additional support, more information about DVLCC is available here. PEEPS HIE is a charity providing specialist support for those affected by Hypoxic-Ischaemic Encephalopathy which can lead to cerebral palsy. More information is available in our podcast with PEEPS.