A scheme to support people with advanced multiple sclerosis in their own homes has prevented 57 hospital admissions and saved the NHS £200,000 over the last 12 months.
The MS Trust began the pilot in 2018, which saw an Advanced Multiple Sclerosis Champion role created in the North West for the first time.
The programme, which ran between 2018 and 2020, was funded by The October Club, the MS Trust and North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (NCIC). Due to its success, it has been continued by the NHS trust, which runs community hospitals, the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven and Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary.
The MS Trust said the scheme prevented 57 hospital admissions over a 12-month period, equating to an annual cost saving of £202,274.40 to the NHS. It added: “Additional cost savings included reduction in associated A&E visits, hospital stay lengths, ambulance call outs, MS specialist nurse services and GP appointments.”
David Martin, CEO of the MS Trust, said: “The pilot has shown that the AMSC role is not only financially viable but has significant cost savings for the NHS, improves patient flow, outcomes and patient experience for people with AMS and their families and has been greatly welcomed by other health and social care professionals. Crucially, the role helped to free up much needed hospital beds.
“These champions are game changers for the NHS. With services under increased pressure, it is essential that policy makers in Government recognise the detrimental effect that AMS can have when not managed properly, something which is entirely avoidable. This is about co-ordinating services which are already in place to relieve pressure on local health care services and ultimately protecting the individual. Now more than ever, the NHS needs to find ways of joining up services which are already running well to save precious resource and the AMSC does exactly that.”
AMS is characterised by increasing disability, including mobility and balance problems, severe pain and fatigue, difficulty swallowing, spasticity, bladder and bowel problems, and loss of memory. The MS Trust estimates up to 40,000 people in the UK have AMS.
There are often significant financial pressures for people with AMS and their families and for many younger people accepting their condition is extremely challenging. MS health professionals often only become aware of people with AMS when they have hit crisis point and have experienced multiple hospital admissions.
Nicola Hyslop, the AMSC at north Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The MS service in Cumbria is continually expanding and is staffed by a very small and dedicated team.
“The patient caseload and the rurality of the local area has often made it difficult for those patients with advanced MS to be reviewed regularly, this may have led to unnecessary hospital admissions and them feeling unsupported. The Advanced MS Champion role enabled me to make regular contact with people in their own homes, promote their wellbeing and offer treatment when appropriate. Ultimately this reduced the need for unnecessary hospital admissions by ensuring that the appropriate support is in place.
“The success of the pilot has meant that my role is now a permanent one at the trust and with the wider team supporting those with MS, I am now able to help better support around 1000 people in the county who live with advanced Multiple Sclerosis.”
Avril Swinbank, who has AMS, received support from Nicola in north Cumbria as part of the AMSC pilot scheme. She said: “I want to thank the MS Trust for helping to fund Nicola’s role because without her I’d be lost. She’s just there, that listening ear, she’s that person that if I have a problem, I feel I can talk to her, and she can give me guidance and advice. The MS Trust funding her has been amazing for me. It would make such a difference to a lot of people’s lives to have an AMSC.”
The success of the pilot means that the MS Trust is now recruiting for wave two of the AMSC programme to ensure more people benefit from this vital service. To find out more please visit https://mstrust.org.uk/amsc-report
