MS Awareness Week

This MS Awareness Week, our thanks go to every healthcare professional working to improve the lives of people living with MS everywhere. We want to raise awareness of how much effort goes into improving services and experiences for those affected by MS.

To shine a light on some of the most recent service changes that have come out of the MS MasterClass workplace projects, our latest 'education with impact' report summarises some brilliant work in lifestyle and supported self-management, holistic care, medication delivered closer to home, and management of optic neuritis.

'We are under such pressure in the NHS yet we want to provide the very best services we can, and that really came across this year in projects completed by the Foundation and Advanced delegates. Projects ensuring people have equitable access to the best treatment for them, or embedding specialist care into existing services all improves the experiences of and outcomes for people with MS.'

Dr Wallace Brownlee, honorary academic director

These excellent projects all demonstrate improvements in quality of care and transferability to other spaces, and from their learning, we have pulled out their tried and tested ways to implement changes across five key service areas. We hope they can increase your awareness of the many different ways to make a difference to people with MS, and perhaps inspire you to make a small change to services yourself.

'I was thrilled to see so many projects addressing such patient-centred issues. Supported-self-management is really close to my heart, as is MS services which really see the whole person and all aspects of their lives and needs as essential when providing treatment or interventions. It is fantastic to hear from so many people who feel the same and are working to transform the experiences of people with MS in their area through this lens.'

Ruth Stross, head of nursing

Whether you decide to initiate routine structured medication reviews like MS specialist nurse Lisa, trial a mobile clinic to assess people's suitability for a DMT like clinical specialist physiotherapist Catherine, or review the information available for people with MS in your area around lifestyle choices to manage symptoms and slow disease progression like neurology registrar Gavin, we hope you feel inspired by these projects and encouraged by the difference that a small change can make.

More information

Our education with impact reports succinctly summarise key themes from projects that year, and highlight the actions delegates have taken and the outcomes they achieved in a way that deliberately invites learning and transferability.

You can find our new report nestled amongst a raft of others and a massive back-catalogue of projects, all sortable via theme or condition, on our website: