Multiple Sclerosis

(asked on 11th December 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what financial assistance his Department makes available to (a) organisations dealing with multiple sclerosis and (b) individuals who have multiple sclerosis.


Answered by
Steve Brine Portrait
Steve Brine
This question was answered on 19th December 2018

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides a range of guidance on the treatment and management of multiple sclerosis (MS), including information on the use of disease modifying therapies for use in the National Health Service for the treatment of patients with relapsing remitting MS; the most common form of the disease. NICE also highlights the importance of involving professionals who can meet the needs of the patient in the best way, such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists. In January 2016, NICE published an MS Quality Standard. This includes the Quality Statement: “Adults with MS are offered a comprehensive review at least once a year by healthcare professionals with expertise in MS.”

Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with MS can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. However, NHS England also commissions the specialised elements of MS care that patients may need. These services are provided at 25 specialised neurological treatment centres across England. NHS England has published a service specification setting out what providers must have in place to deliver specialised neurological care, including equity of access to services for patients wherever they live. The specification can be found via the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-d/d04/

The Department does not collect information on the number of people with MS. Various studies have estimated numbers at around 100,000 people in the United Kingdom. The NICE guideline ‘Multiple sclerosis: management of multiple sclerosis in primary and secondary care’, published in 2014, uses this estimate and breaks this down for the three types of MS: relapsing remitting (affecting about 85% of those diagnosed); secondary progressive which can come after relapsing remitting, and primary progressive (affecting 10-15% of those diagnosed).

On the available information it does not appear that the Department centrally directly financially supports any charity or third sector organisations related to MS. The Department does not make any financial help specifically available for those with MS. Those with MS have the same entitlement on grounds of low income to help with NHS costs as other individuals.

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