Speakers' abstract

Managing the transition: multi-disciplinary team working in secondary progressive MS

Smith A, Rehabilitation Nurse Specialist MS, Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Recognition that their MS has changed from relapsing remitting to secondary progressive phase is very difficult for many patients. The presence of a permanent disability affecting every day life is challenging enough and when this may be coupled with the end of disease modifying therapy it is no wonder that our patients feel lost. This session will explore how health professionals can best meet the needs of patients during this time. Of course there can be an extensive multi-disciplinary team that may manage individual symptoms. However, I would like to suggest that if we become too symptom focused we may miss important opportunities to assist our patients through this emotive time. This presentation will consider how, by using rehabilitation principles and inter-disciplinary working, it is possible to explore choices with our patients that support them in a meaningful way. This can be quite challenging for the practitioner so towards the end of the session I am going to discuss a model we use in Derby to support this style of working.