A FIRM from North Yorkshire, believed to be the UK's only specialist provider of home-based brain injury rehabilitation, has been awarded Investors In People (IIP).

Reach Personal Injury Services Ltd, of Boroughbridge, celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and has achieved the quality standard after help and advice from business adviser Helen Gisbourne, of Business Link York and North Yorkshire.

Reach employs 14 programme managers throughout the UK, all of them qualified occupational therapists, who work with hundreds of assistants to provide a home-based service for people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries and are receiving compensation as a result.

Director Heather Batey said that where many other rehabilitation services available for people with brain injuries were either provided outside the home or delivered on a piecemeal basis, Reach provided a consistent, dedicated service.

The advantage of a home-based service was that clients responded better to rehabilitation in their own homes, as it was difficult for them to transfer skills learned in one environment to another.

Mrs Batey said the IIP process had enhanced the quality of the service delivered by Reach, while strengthening cohesion between employees.

Updated: 11:32 Monday, June 14, 2004