The national audit of services for people with multiple sclerosis is a clinically-led audit of the organisation, resourcing and performance of NHS services for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in England and Wales, funded by the Royal College of Physicians and the Multiple Sclerosis Trust. The primary goal is to improve care for all people with multiple sclerosis.

Headlines

  • The national report for the 2011 round of audit is now available to download (see documents below).

 

 

Audit 2011

The 2011 audit measures the NHS against the standards embedded in the National Institure for Clinical Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline Management of multiple sclerosis in primary and secondary care (2003) and the National Service Framework for long-term conditions (NSF-LTC) (2005). Data was collected from acute and community service providers, primary care trusts, strategic health authorities, GPs and people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Data collection took place between 31 January 2011 and 29 April 2011. The results are available below as an executive summary and a full national report.

Key findings

This audit has found that some patients receive excellent care from the NHS. However, this is not universal, and the variation in both the quality and the quantity of care provided is notable.

Overarching findings:

  • There has been no major improvement in many aspects of service provision for people with MS that have been audited since 2006.
  • None of the six key recommendations made by NICE in 2003 have been implemented widely or fully.
  • The sentinel marker proposed by NICE, the prevalence of skin pressure ulcers, has dropped from 9% to 4% over five years, as reported by people with MS.
  • Seven of the 11 quality requirements of the NSF-LTC are particularly relevant to people with MS; all showed a low level of attainment and they will not be achieved by the target date of 2015.
  • One-third of trusts have no plans to improve neurological services in the next year.

Last updated on: 08 February 2012