MS services

Being diagnosed with MS is the beginning of a long, unpredicatable journey. In Denmark, people are offered a two-week residential course on adjusting to their new life with MS. Tim Wardman went on one and reports back on what he learned.

Pia Reynolds, advisory group lay member for the MS Trust’s project MS Forward View, explains what it’s like to represent people with MS in this innovative project.

Should the task of improving MS services be solely the responsibility of the NHS? Amy Bowen, Director of Service Development at the MS Trust, explains why we believe it’s vital for the MS Trust to work in co-operation with MS teams to ensure people living with MS receive the best possible care

The publication of the Public Accounts Committee’s report on services for people with neurological conditions throws down the gauntlet to the Department of Health and NHS England. 

Sometimes, as a person with MS, it can feel as though your voice isn’t being heard. This is why I was so keen to become a lay member of the MS Trust’s MS Forward View project advisory group. Any opportunity to share my opinions about and experiences of MS services, I grab, because so much of the time my opinion doesn’t seem to matter.

2015 has been another busy year for the MS Trust.  Highlights include:

• MS Decisions launched
• Information about secondary progressive MS
• Evidence for MS specialist services published
• Launch of the new look MS Trust website
• NICE quality standard for MS
• Supporting health professionals
• Your support for us

NICE is developing the new quality standard for MS which identifies priority areas for improving NHS MS services. Amanda Croft, the MS Trust Policy Officer, explains why we have some concerns and what we're doing about it

Geraldine Mynors reports on progress in our campaign to make sure everyone affected by MS can access the best possible specialist case

New care standards have been unveiled by the Welsh Government, to improve standards of care throughout the NHS. They’ve gained more urgency after care scandals were reported at the Princess of Wales hospital in Bridgend and Glan Clywd hospital in Rhyl. The new, improved standards of care are collated into a Health Standards Framework, which is based around 7 quality themes.

Earlier this year the MS Trust carried out new research into the effects of information on people’s experience of MS diagnosis. We surveyed 500 people living with MS and asked them whether they had been given information when they were diagnosed, and how this had affected their adjustment to living with MS.