A campaign to increase the provision of MS nurses in England has raised £30,000 just a month after beginning.
The No1Alone campaign, run by the MS Trust was set up after a report by the charity identified variations in the standard of care for people with MS. It found that one in four people with MS lives in areas where the nurses have to care for twice the recommended numbers. Additionally, 64% of people living with MS, roughly 68,000 people, live in areas where there aren’t enough MS nurses to provide support.
‘We believe that MS nurses play a vital role in helping people deal with the shock of diagnosis and can help them adjust to, and manage, life with MS,' said Amy Bowen, director of service development at the MS Trust. “Our research shows that too many people are going without this specialist support – either they have no MS nurse near them, or their nurse is having to manage a caseload far in excess of the recommended sustainable number. This can have grave consequences for people with MS.’
The campaign was launched in September to boost the numbers of specialist nurses. It aims to raise a total of £100,000 by January 2017. The money raised will pay for the first 18 months of the specialist nurses’ posts.
‘We’re talking to a shortlist of MS teams across the UK, and in November we’re going to announce the first three sites where we’ll be funding nurses,’ said a spokesperson for the MS Trust. ‘We will be recruiting during November and December and hope to have the first three nurses in post by February 2017.’
To donate to the campaign, visit: https://www.mstrust.org.uk/get-involved/ways-donat...