Specialist nurses for people with MS in the UK

Specialist nurses for people with MS in the UK

With the help of GlobalGiving donors, we now have a total of 8 specialist MS nurse posts supporting over 4,200 people with MS in the UK, together with their families and carers. Our highly trained, expert, compassionate nurses work tirelessly to provide essential, individually tailored care and support to people with MS in areas where the greatest need has been identified, but we still need to fund and recruit many more specialist MS nurses.

Our 2021 survey of the current MS nursing situation in the UK found that 8 in 10 people with MS live in areas where MS nurses have unsustainable caseloads and that there is a shortfall of 149 specialist MS nurses needed to provide the required levels of care. We are working hard, with your vital support, to address these crucial issues.

To date we have funded specialist MS nurse posts in Liverpool, Enfield, Redbridge, Lothian, South Tees, North Lincolnshire & Goole, Coventry, Bradford, Lanarkshire and Leicester. These nurses have made huge positive differences to those living with MS in these areas, including:

• the provision of direct support and clinical advice to MS patients, and conducting joint visits with social care professionals to bring specialist MS expertise to the care of vulnerable adults
• connecting them with other services, such as a doctor or a therapist to ensure that they receive joined-up and holistic care.
• improving the quality of daily life for those affected by MS, and their family members and carers through providing longer visits and easier access to their expertise
• reducing the use of unscheduled care beds and preventable hospital admissions through timely care interventions
• equipping patients lost in the health care system with the ability to manage their symptoms, gain knowledge and confidence about living with MS, and to remain independent.

Each MS nurse saves the NHS over £77,000 each year by providing levels of care and support which help to prevent hospital admissions.

There is no charge for the specialist care our MS nurses provide and we receive no Government funding to run this programme. It is funded by the generosity of individuals like you.

Your donation will directly support the provision of specialist MS Nurses and ensure that we are able to offer this level of care to an ever-growing number of the MS community in the UK to help them today and to empower them for the future.

On behalf of our service users, MS Trust staff and volunteers, thank you for your invaluable support of this work.

With very best wishes

Lucy Taylor

Director of Fundraising & Marketing