In his latest blog, the MS Trust's CEO David Martin, talks about the challenges of 2020 and why he can't wait for 2021 to start.
I can’t wait for the New Year and a new start for the MS Trust. For one thing, it will finally mean that the horrible year of 2020 is over. But it will also mean that the MS Trust can really start to kick on with some great new ideas for 2021.
For most of 2020, it felt like we were walking through treacle as Covid-19 changed the world around us and put most of the MS sector on hold. Our Enquiry Service spoke to record numbers of people who told us how they had been affected. We heard about the difficulty people have had accessing NHS services, the impact Covid-19 had on jobs and money for day to day expenses and the challenges of coping with loneliness in lockdown.
At the MS Trust we had to put our plans for five new MS Nurses on hold. Our conference was paused. We had to let some colleagues go and place others on furlough. We had to tear up longstanding fundraising plans and quickly make new ones. And the MS Trust HQ became a ghost town as everybody dispersed to work from their kitchens. I felt guilty that we couldn’t do enough to support more people living with MS. It was tough.
The MS Trust is still not back to normal. We are still not back in the office. But it feels like a corner has been turned, and now that we have weathered the storm, we are still alive and kicking and ready to make even more of a difference across the MS community.
We will start 2021 with a rejuvenated Enquiry Service. We are implementing some major technical changes behind the scenes which will be in place by March 2021, and will help to ensure that we can support even more people living with MS in the future.
We are the only charity providing additional MS nurses to the NHS. And I am really pleased that we will be re-starting the NHS specialist programme in the spring. Too many MS nurses have too big a caseload. If we can provide an additional five MS nurses, that would make a real difference to the lives of so many people living with MS.
We are the only charity providing MS Champions for the NHS to help and support some of the 40,000 people with advanced MS. Our pilot involving six Champions has almost finished. We were going to use 2021 to review the results of what they have achieved. But the initial results have blown us away, improving the quality of lives of so many people living with advanced MS, as well as saving the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds that we have no option but to kick on from the summer. We aim to provide another three MS Champions. We have got to find new ways of raising even more money so we can pay for more MS Nurses and more MS Champions. But when we publish our evidence showing the difference they make, I am sure the money will come rolling in.
In February, we will be holding the MS Trust conference virtually for the first time. It’s the UK’s biggest conference for MS health professionals. It enables them to come together to learn, share best practice and improve the service they give to people with MS. It’s a challenge to ensure it’s a success, but there’s already a buzz about our national event.
But, there is one more idea we are developing which we think is really exciting. We will be exploring new ways to listen to you, and get you involved with all we do, whether that’s having your say on our services and support, or sharing your stories about what really matters to people living with MS. We’re looking forward to working in partnership with you to shape a better future for people with MS. So as you can see, the handbrake is well and truly off!
So watch this space. It’s going to be an exciting year at the MS Trust.
