The MS Trust brings new MS specialist nurses to Hull, North Lincs and Goole, NHS Lothian and South Tees


15 November 2018

The MS Trust is delighted to announce that South Tees, NHS Lothian, Hull and North Lincs and Goole will be the next areas to benefit from our pioneering Specialist Nurse Programme.

Thanks to the fundraising efforts of our amazing supporters, the MS Trust has helped to recruit and fund new MS specialist nurses at these chosen sites, which is all part of our campaign to ensure nobody in the UK has to manage MS alone.

We will be working with the local MS teams to help them make the most of the new nurses and demonstrate the difference they make to local people living with MS. After 15 months, the respective NHS trusts will take over funding for the posts, but the MS Trust will continue to support the nurses’ training and development, as it does for all MS nurses in the UK.

Stacey Hood and Kevin Taylor have been appointed to work across Hull and North Lincs and Goole, they will be working very closely with the existing MS nurse team based at Hull Royal Infirmary developing an innovative, cross site model. Claire Naisbitt has been appointed in South Tees and Emily Harrison has joined the team in Lothian. The NHS Lothian and South Tees nurses will start in November, Kevin Taylor in November and Stacey Hood in January.

MS specialist nurses are vital for people living with MS. They can help them adjust to diagnosis, consider complicated treatment options, manage a wide range of symptoms and learn to live well with an unpredictable, often debilitating, lifelong condition.

The MS Trust conducts regular research into nursing levels across the UK and has found around 77% of people with MS in the UK live in areas where there aren’t enough MS nurses. The research highlighted Lothian, Hull, North Lincs, Goole and South Tees as areas urgently in need of extra support.

We plan to fund more MS nurses in the coming months and years, and will be announcing the next sites to benefit from the Specialist Nurse Programme very soon.

Jo Sopala, Director of Health Professional Programme at the MS Trust, commented:

The MS Trust is thrilled to be able to bring new nurses to these areas, which our research showed were all in desperate need of extra support. We know the new MS nurses will make a huge difference to local people living with MS and we will be there to support them every step of the way. We’d like to say a big thank you to all our supporters for helping us to take another step towards our overall goal of making sure that no one in the UK has to manage MS alone.

Claire Naisbitt, MS specialist nurse at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, added:

I am very happy to be appointed to the MS Trust’s Specialist Nurse Programme. I have been a nurse for approximately 9 years working on the acute neurology ward and have spent some time as a community nurse. I love being a nurse as I enjoy caring for people and strive to deliver the best care for them. I am really looking forward to the MS Trust’s training programme and developing into my new role.

Emily Harrison, MS specialist nurse at NHS Lothian, also commented: 

I’m so delighted to be joining the team at the Anne Rowling Centre, who are so passionate about research and improving care and services for people with MS in Scotland. Being an MS Nurse, you are in a privileged position to make change, add quality and provide the support and navigation that people with MS find invaluable.