MS Service Provision in the UK: Raising the Bar

Leadership MasterClass – Raising the Bar


Background

In the past, Neurology Academy has worked hard to equip clinicians to effect change in their locality through practical education and mentoring schemes.

However, when we began supporting the national project, ‘Raising the Bar for MS‘ in 2018, we realised that affecting change often demands more of clinicians than a combination of passion and knowledge. It requires leadership.

Recognising the complex and varied skill set that a leader needs, the Leadership MasterClass was born.

Group project

This group’s project is: “What bold measures should the NHS take to minimise emergency admissions for people with MS?”

Watch an interview with the cohort to understand more about their project and its purpose in effecting change at a clinical and patient level.

Thank you for watching our vision for the future of MS services as part of our MS Leaders Academy project. We are very keen to start the conversation and utilise your expertise and knowledge by gathering stakeholders to move this forward following Raising the Bar 2020. If you are interested in being a part of this please complete the form below and we will contact you shortly.

MS Unite is an idea for a digital platform that has arisen from the MS Leaders Academy 2020 and is in line with NHSX future digital solutions for the NHS.
MS Unite will have ‘Everything in one place’ for ‘Anyone Anywhere Any time’.

The platform will include different streams under one umbrella:

  • MS Connect – 24/7 national MS service, helpline, standardised communications and agreed pathways of care
  • MS Educate – Education & Training for local HCPs involved in the care of a person with MS, Professional mentorship and a Patient buddy scheme
  • MS MDT – Planned appointment via the platform with the whole MDT and links with MS Connect, virtual networks between specialist centres and community teams, prescribable and monitored exercises
  • MS FAQ/Library – Answers for HCPs & patient FAQs, library of online resources – for e.g. charities, SLT, exercise, vocational advice, DMT guidelines, relapses and COVID – all updated and in one place
  • MS Access app – patients able to record symptoms/ appointments/ medications and all HCPs involved able to access this information, provide information for patients, facilitate recording and transfer of information for everyone directly involved in care, access to the FAQ and library, MS Educate and MS MDT

Much of this already exists across the UK, the fundamental part of MS Unite is that it reduces variance and ensures people with MS all have the same access to care, treatments and advice. To enable this to happen we need to bring together expertise from across medical, nursing, pharmacy and therapies in MS and crucially patient experience.

To find out more about our project please watch our presentation above which outlines our ideas further, and if you are interested in being involved please ‘register your interest’ now.

This cohort – who they are and what they’re doing

Each Leadership MasterClass, unlike our other courses, forms a team who are expected to work together outside of the course teaching hours to accomplish their project. The first half of the MasterClass teaching focuses on:

This project team is comprised of:

Joela Mathews

Lead neuroscience pharmacist, Barts Health NHS Trust

Jenny Ledsam

MS Service Coordinator, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

Dr Ian Pomeroy

Consultant Neurologist, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust

Ruth Stross

Head of nursing, Neurology Academy

Elizabeth Keenan

Nurse consultant in neuro-disability, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Niraj Mistry

Consultant neurologist, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Leonora Fisniku

Consultant neurologist, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Claire McCarthy

Consultant neurologist, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Anisha Doshi

Consultant neurologist & post-doctoral honorary research fellow, Darent Valley Hospital & Queen Square MS Centre, University College London

How can I get involved?

If you are interested in being a delegate on the MasterClass, register your interest here. If you would like to provide mentorship, please get in touch.

The MasterClass Faculty

Prof Gabriele De Luca

Clinician-scientist in clinical neurology, University of Oxford

Barbara Hoese

President, pentecore coaching LLC

Prof Gavin Giovannoni

Professor of Neurology, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

The Mentors

Each MasterClass delegate has a mentor assigned to them according to the skills they wish to develop and their background – for example, this cohort’s mentors span pharmacy, nursing, commissioning and clinical consultancy. This project team’s mentors are:

What next?

Find out more