Supported Self-Management in Multiple Sclerosis

The content of this course is intended for healthcare professionals only.

Background

Demands on the NHS are stretching its workforce to new levels, meaning that capacity of service provision for all disease areas, including MS, in the UK are under pressure.

Part of the NHS Long Term Plan to tackle this issue is emphasised with the importance of personalised care in helping to reduce health inequalities and support the future sustainability of the healthcare system. Universal personalised care is the proposed delivery plan towards making personalised care ‘business as usual’ for 2.5 million people by 2024.¹

Supported self-management is a large part of the NHS Long Term Plan’s commitment to realise the importance of personalised care. ² The term ‘Supported Self-Management’ refers to the ways that healthcare services can encourage, support, and empower people to manage their ongoing physical and mental conditions themselves. It has been shown that when healthcare is designed to support self-management, people with long-term health conditions and their carers play a more active role in managing their own health. This can mean making lifestyle changes to ensure people have the required knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage not only their long-term health conditions but also the practical and emotional impact it has on their lives. When this happens, people enjoy life more, have less pain, have improved clinical outcomes and use healthcare services less. For people with long-term health conditions, this provides a host of benefits ranging from a more flexible and healthier lifestyle to savings in time and money on hospital visits.³ It also has positive emotional and psychological benefits for example hope and resilience can increase grit in people with MS⁴ and SSM may help people with MS to feel less bound by some of the limits MS has placed on their lives​.

By showcasing best practice within MS and in other disease areas such as Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) where advances in supported self-management have brought the benefits to fruition, this series of educational modules aims to help drive service enhancement in line with the NHS Long Term Plan and ultimately, improve the quality of life for people with MS.

What will delegates learn?

This virtual course will cover 5 modules, each 1.5-2 hours long and will feature various expert speakers across a number of key themes identified by a panel of MS experts.

Delegates can expect to gain a deeper understanding of the importance of supported self management in MS from various points of view. Speakers will have a background in healthcare, health systems and most important of all, we will listen to and learn about the personal experience from people with MS

Who is this course for?

This course is aimed at healthcare professionals and service providers that have an interest in supported self-management within the MS community. It aims to enhance patient care by providing on-demand education to healthcare professionals interested in supported self-management, build a platform to share best practices and offer real-world ideas and solutions for the sustainability of quality care for people with MS.

Timeframe

All modules are now available.

Cost of the course

This is a free course for UK healthcare professionals and other relevant decision makers. To reserve a space on this course, please complete the registration form. Once your registration is confirmed, you will need to create an account on the Neurology Academy website, where the course content will appear.

Access to course resources

Delegates will be able to access the on-demand modules and resources for up to 12 months after the launch of the final module.

Date of prep: Jan 2023
Job code: UI-NONNI-00416

For more information on MS Academy & Merck’s collaborative working project, please visit: Merck UK & Collaborative Working (merckgroup.com)

References:

1. NHS England – What is Personalised Care? https://www.england.nhs.uk/personalisedcare/what-is-personalised-care/ Last visited: 14 December 2022
2. NHS Long Term Plan – first published: 7 January 2019 https://www.longtermplan.nhs.uk/ Last visited: 14 December 2022
3. NHS England and NHS Improvement – Supported Self Management: Summary Guide. Published: March 2020 https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/supported-self-management-summary-guide.pdf Last visited: 14 December 2022
4. Lee B, Rumrill P and Tansey TN (2022) Examining the Role of Resilience and Hope in Grit in Multiple Sclerosis. Front. Neurol. 13:875133. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.875133 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2022.875133/full