Speakers' abstract

Addressing the palliative and end of life care needs of people with MS

Sutton L, Director of Policy Development, National Council for Palliative Care, London

It is increasingly recognised that people with advanced MS and other long-term conditions have unmet health and social care needs in the last years of their lives. Many people with advanced MS represent a 'silent minority' who have fallen out of acute care follow-up and remain a collective mystery in terms of their palliative care needs. However many of the symptoms experienced in the advanced stages of MS can be similar to cancer, eg pain, nausea and breathlessness. Traditional palliative care services can provide some support but they are still mainly accessed by people with cancer with only approximately 5% non cancer of which a very small part will be MS.

It is therefore important to consider new ways and models of caring for people to the end of life. NCPC with a range of experts has been working hard on this for 4 years. This session will outline the findings to date, outline palliative care needs and ways to address these, give details of a care pathway to help with this and explore some good practice models already in place that can help you in your local practice.