About Us


Dr Phil Clatworthy
MB BChir, MA, PhD Cantab, MRCP Neurology UK

I am a Consultant Stroke Neurologist working at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, UK.

I graduated from medical school in Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and completed my PhD, also in Cambridge, in 2010.



I currently hold The Stroke Association Thompson Family Senior Clinical Lectureship to work on rehabilitation in visual loss after stroke.

My particular interest is in the brain mechanisms of recovery from hemianopia (loss of visual perception on one side), and I am also interested in visual neglect (ignoring one side of the world or of objects), from whatever cause but particularly stroke.

My long term aim is to develop individualised rehabilitation techniques for hemianopia and neglect. I am investigating the role of simultaneous eye and head movements in adapting to hemianopia and neglect, and the potential role of "perceptual learning" (learning to see through repetition of visual tasks) in visual rehabilitation.

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Jayne Angilley

I work as a Community Stroke Occupational therapist in Cornwall.

I have a keen interest in visual processing problems following Stroke.

Many of the patients I work with have experienced visual difficulties following their stroke, and often these can go undetected initially. This may be because in the first few days after Stroke, the more immediate physical and acute symptoms willneed to be treated quickly. Sometimes, a visual deficit such as a hemianopia will not be identified until patients have returned home, and are getting back to doing more complex activities.

However, Therapists have become much more skilled and aware of the need for early assessment and recognition of visual problems in their patients following Stroke, and there is growing Research being carried out to study more robustly and provide evidence for different treatment interventions. My own interest, and the knowledge and skills I have gained have made me feel passionate about wanting to develop and share Occupational therapy interventions that will benefit patients with visual difficulties after Stroke.

I hope to write a regular column for the blog in which I can discuss and share ways of being able to identify visual problems in patients after Stroke, and Occupational therapy interventions that may be helpful in rehabilitation.

FEATURED

Try Eye-Search, free web-based visual search training from University College London (funded by the Stroke Association).
Listening Books is a UK charity providing audiobooks for people with reading difficulty. Books can be posted on CD, downloaded, or streamed online. There is a membership fee, but it is apparently heavily subsidised.