• Reference Number: HEY1012/2026
• Departments: Emergency Department
• Last Updated: 30 April 2026

Introduction

This advice sheet has been produced to give you information about head injuries in adult patients. It is not meant to replace discussion between you and your Doctor/Practitioner. If after reading it, you require further explanation please discuss this with the relevant person who has been caring for you.

Following your examination, we feel it is safe for you to be discharged from hospital. When you get home it is very unlikely that you will have any further problems. If any radiology imaging was required following your head injury, the healthcare team looking after you will have discussed the results with you, prior to making the decision to discharge you.

If you did not have a CT scan or it did not show any damage to the brain, but if any of the following symptoms return or develop, we advise that you return to the nearest Emergency Department as soon as possible:

• Become unconscious or experience confusion (not knowing where you are, getting things muddled up)
• Any drowsiness (feeling sleepy) that goes on for longer than 1 hour when you would normally be wide awake
• Difficulty waking up
• Develop abnormal eye signs e.g. one pupil bigger than the other, squint or double vision
• A severe headache, which is not relieved by rest or simple pain relief medication
• Vomiting more than once
• Have a fit
• Problems with walking, balance, understanding, speaking or writing

Things you should not worry about

After suffering from a head injury, you may experience some other symptoms which should disappear within 2 weeks. These include.

• Mild headache
• Feeling sick (without vomiting)
• Dizziness
• Irritability or bad temper
• Problems concentrating or problems with your memory
• Tiredness
• Lack of appetite
• Problems sleeping

If you feel concerned about any of these symptoms in the first few days after discharge, you should make an appointment to see your GP to talk about them. If you continue to experience symptoms, we recommend that you seek a doctor’s (GP) opinion about your ability to drive a vehicle or operative heavy machinery.

Things that will help you get better

Do make sure a responsible adult stays with you for at least 24 hours following your injury

For the next 48 hours:

• Have plenty of rest and avoid stressful situations
• Avoid reading, TV, loud music, computers, mobile phone use, electronic tablets, lots of visitors
• Continue to take your regular medications
• Take over the counter pain relief to relive any pain or headache (Paracetamol or ibuprofen)
• Do not take any alcohol until you have fully recovered
• Do not take any illegal drugs
• Do not play contact sports for at least 3 weeks
• Do not take sleeping pills, sedatives or tranquillisers unless prescribed by a doctor
• Do not return to normal studies or work activities until you feel you have completely recovered
• Do not return to sport until you feel you have completely recovered
• Do not drive a car, ride a motorbike, scooter or bicycle
• Do not operate heavy machinery unless you have completely recovered

Should you require further advice on the issues contained in this advice sheet, please do not hesitate to contact the Emergency Medicine Department.

General Advice and Consent

Most of your questions should have been answered by this leaflet, but remember that this is only a starting point for discussion with the healthcare team.

Consent to treatment

Before any doctor, nurse or therapist examines or treats you, they must seek your consent or permission. In order to make a decision, you need to have information from health professionals about the treatment or investigation which is being offered to you. You should always ask them more questions if you do not understand or if you want more information.

The information you receive should be about your condition, the alternatives available to you, and whether it carries risks as well as the benefits. What is important is that your consent is genuine or valid. That means:

• you must be able to give your consent
• you must be given enough information to enable you to make a decision
• you must be acting under your own free will and not under the strong influence of another person

Information about you

We collect and use your information to provide you with care and treatment. As part of your care, information about you will be shared between members of a healthcare team, some of whom you may not meet. Your information may also be used to help train staff, to check the quality of our care, to manage and plan the health service, and to help with research. Wherever possible we use anonymous data.

We may pass on relevant information to other health organisations that provide you with care. All information is treated as strictly confidential and is not given to anyone who does not need it. If you have any concerns please ask your doctor, or the person caring for you.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018 we are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any information we hold about you. For further information visit the following page: Confidential Information about You.

If you or your carer needs information about your health and wellbeing and about your care and treatment in a different format, such as large print, braille or audio, due to disability, impairment or sensory loss, please advise a member of staff and this can be arranged.