Patients 'come alive' in music sessions, therapist says

NHS patients with complex neurological conditions receiving music therapy "come alive" during sessions as part of their rehabilitation, a music therapist has said.

Sessions at the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH) in Brighton are offered to those with conditions which can affect the brain, spinal cord and nerves, including epilepsy, MS, Parkinson's disease and stroke.

Music therapist Joe Jezard, who delivers the sessions, believes that for some individuals music can be a powerful tool to re-establish neural connectivity and allow healing and restoration.

"By being musical you can see them come alive in different ways that might not have been possible otherwise," he said.

The service is made possible through funding from Nordoff and Robbins, a music therapy charity.

Anuli, a patient on the neurological ward at the RSCH, said she really enjoyed the music therapy sessions and believed it helped her recovery.

"Before I came to the hospital, I found it difficult to sing," she said, adding that she used to sing at home and in church too.

"Singing with Joe has been really helpful in bringing strength in my vocal cords," she added.

Consultant neurologist Dr John Young said patients benefited from "additional rehabilitation they might not get otherwise from the normal physiotherapy and occupational therapy".

Jezard said: "Because music speaks to all the different parts of our lives, from the rhythms we need to maintain to be well, to the ways in which we respond to tone and pitch in people's voices to communicate, having the opportunity to engage in music making is a way to keep those things alive."

A 2023 report by Nordoff and Robbins found music therapy helped support relaxation, provided emotional support, and improved wellbeing.

Consultant neurologist Dr Eva Bunting said she has seen the impact of neurological disease on patients and that it was "more than the impact on the brain and spinal cord".

"It is a significant life-changing event that can have a wider impact on people and their families as well," she said.

"Music therapy really has the potential to be quite transformative in that circumstance in a very holistic way."

She added that music could form a "really great conduit" for communication between somebody who was experiencing an illness and their family members, and between the clinical staff and an individual.

"[It can] enable a form of communication which maybe can happen without words," she added.

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