Taking over an MS service under pressure: 12-month review


By Dr Yasser Falah, Consultant Neurologist, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

All of our attendees carry out a piece of research in an area of MS clinical practice or treatment that interests them.

This snapshot gives you a quick idea of what they found and why. If you want to learn more, just click through to the full poster, or follow the links within the snapshot.

If you would like to contact the alumni who did the research, drop us a line and we’ll put you in touch where possible.

Aim

To create a service development plan for the University Hospitals of Leicester’s MS service (UHL)

Headlines

  • The service has 1,870 registered MS patients, but has been without a consultant for some time
  • In September, it linked with the Nottingham centre to provide a weekly visit from a neighbouring consultant

Key findings

A review of the service found a number of challenges to the successful implementation of the new service model. These included:

  • Large cohort
  • Long waiting list
  • Duplicate appointments

Recommendations

The author recommended a seven-point action plan:

  1. Review database
  2. Review clinic structure
  3. Establish regional MDT link
  4. Establish Tysabri monitoring protocol
  5. Establish scan reports communication protocol
  6. Review timing of appointments
  7. Establish patient/HCP communication protocol

The outcomes include higher patient and registrar satisfaction, fewer complaints, and the faster delivery of high-efficacy disease modifying therapies (DMTs).


More MS Academy Service development Projects

Improving the time frame of verifying outpatient clinic letters
By Lisa Marsh, MS nurse specialist, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Optimising MS Nurse Reviews - Shifting Towards a More Patient-Focused Approach
By Denisse Bongol, Clinical nurse specialist, MS, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Jessica Mensah, Pharmacist, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Patient engagement to inform changes in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) services in City and Hackney August 2022
By Sarah German, MS Specialist Practitioner Band 7, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Encouraging excellence, developing leaders, inspiring change

MS Academy was established five years ago and in that time has accomplished a huge amount. The six different levels of specialist MS training are dedicated to case-based learning and practical application of cutting edge research. Home to national programme Raising the Bar and the fantastic workstream content it is producing, this is an exciting Academy to belong to.