Campaigning
Nicola Russell, Director of Services, MS Trust
Open Door - August 2008 page 2
Elsewhere in this edition of Open Door we report on the results of the recent MS Trust audit with the Royal College of Physicians looking at the implementation of the NICE guidelines for MS management (see Audit of MS Services article). Clearly these results give us material for campaigning but this is not the only focus for our current activities.
Darzi review
Another review of the NHS in England is underway led by the junior health minister Lord Darzi. As an eminent surgeon he is focusing more on quality and the role of clinical evidence, unlike some of the other recent reviews, and this clinical focus has to be welcomed. Each strategic health authority has produced a new plan and we all have three months in which we can comment on these plans. They vary significantly and whilst in some the implementation of the National Service Framework for Long-term conditions is specified as a key objective, in others there is little or no mention of neurology or MS. The lack of focus on neurology remains a real concern to the MS Trust and we are committed to trying to ensure that the profiles of both neurology and multiple sclerosis are increased in the minds of the NHS. The MS Trust is submitting a response to each of the SHA plans and copies of our submissions and the plans will be available on our website.
Wales
In Wales there is an even more dramatic review underway, suggesting a fundamental change to the structure of the NHS and how it is funded. The proposal is to remove market forces and return to a per capita method of funding the NHS in the principality. The MS Trust will be formulating our response to this proposal once more detail is available.
The Welsh proposal aligned to changes that have already taken place in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the variation of the SHA plans show just how far devolution is changing what is now euphemistically called a 'national' health service.
MS Pathway
One of the latest buzz words in the NHS is commissioning. We are told that the purpose of commissioning is to maximise the health of a population and minimise illness by purchasing health services and by influencing other organisations to create conditions which enhance people's health. Effective commissioning is seen as one of the key methodologies for changing practice in the NHS but most of the commissioners do not understand what it is like to live with multiple sclerosis, the complexities of the condition or its variability.
To aid effective commissioning for multiple sclerosis the MS Trust has initiated the production of an MS commissioning pathway. In essence, this pathway shows how people with MS should be assessed and treated. We have worked with other organisations and commissioners in its development and the determination of everyone to achieve an acceptable pathway has been encouraging. We hope the pathway will be launched shortly and will be available on our website.
All these topics may seem a long way from the reality of living with MS and in many ways they are. The stance of the MS Trust is that we have to work with the health professionals and the management of the NHS to effect long lasting change and it is to this end that we have been working.
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