After five years at the helm, the MS Trust’s Chair of Trustees is stepping down from her role. Here, Laura Chapman reflects on her time at the MS Trust and what she's enjoyed most about the role, and shares a message for the incoming Chair.
How did you first come into contact with the MS Trust?
I first came into contact with the MS Trust when it applied to the grant-making charity where I was the CEO. I recall an extraordinarily impressive Director of Services giving an incontestable case for support for people with MS and telling me in no uncertain terms that the MS Trust was THE charity to meet that need. The grant was swiftly awarded. Then many years later, I was approached as part of the charity’s search for a new Chair. The founder Chair was stepping down after 20 years and a replacement was needed. It was a role that I knew I would relish. From my close friends with MS, I knew what a huge difference the MS Trust made to their lives, and that it would be a real honour for me to become involved.
Can you tell us a little about the role itself? What does being Chair of a charity involve?
Broadly, the primary role of the Chair of a charity board is to ensure that the charity has a clear understanding of why it exists, the impact that it wants to achieve and whether it is actually achieving that impact. The Chair is not the commander-in-chief, who makes unilateral decisions. The role is to encourage the members of the Board to reach collective decisions that are in the best interests of the Trust and its beneficiaries. The Board of Trustees that I joined in 2014 was a very impressive group of individuals who were knowledgeable, passionate and committed and not shy to express an opinion. Another important part of my role as Chair was to be a spokesperson for people with MS, raise awareness about their needs and seek to persuade decision makers to make the right decisions.
What are some of the projects you’ve been most proud to have been involved with during your time at the MS Trust?
The Specialist Nurse Programme, launched in 2016 and working in partnership with the NHS, provides additional MS nurse posts in geographic areas of greatest need. The Trust has now placed seven new MS nurses and is committed to continuing this programme as the NHS resumes normal operations post the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Advanced MS Champions Programme. One of the key priorities identified in the Trust’s ground-breaking research, Generating Evidence in MS Services (GEMSS) and in the Trust’s state of the sector report, MS Forward View, was the need to provide specialist care for those with the most disabling and challenging symptoms of MS, typically known as advanced MS. The Trust has now recruited six Champions. Early evidence from the evaluation of this new programme suggests that the role of the Advanced MS Champion is of huge benefit to those with advanced MS and offers significant cost savings for the NHS by avoiding unnecessary hospital stays.
Finally, the Trust’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been fantastic. As the UK went into lockdown in March 2020, the charity responded quickly and effectively to the challenges of continuing to provide its much needed information support, with calls to the enquiry line and requests for additional information dramatically increased.
What have you enjoyed most about your time as Chair?
My greatest enjoyment has been working with members of the MS Trust team and other MS advocates who are driven by their determination to improve the quality of life for people with MS. They are inspirational, committed, exceptional people who make such a difference to so many. Being part of the MS Trust for the past five years has been a great privilege for me. It is an exceptional charity that provides the highest quality of support that is not available elsewhere for people whose lives have been turned upside down by a relentless and unpredictable condition. The vision of the Trust’s founders in 1993, to enable people with MS to live their lives to the full, is equally valid today, and I have every expectation that the MS Trust will continue to make that vision a reality.
What would your message be for the Chair Designate?
“Being part of the MS Trust has been a great privilege for me” The MS Trust will continue to be there for people with MS, building on the foundations that have been so expertly laid over the past 27 years and now to be led by an exceptional Chair, Caitlin Sorrell. Caitlin, who has a personal connection to MS, brings the best of the skills, expertise and passion that the MS Trust will need to meet its vision for people with MS to live their lives to the full. I have no doubt that under Caitlin's leadership, the Trust will become ever more effective and widely seen as the focal point to which people with MS turn for help.
