An audit by the Royal College of Physicians and the MS Trust shows that there has been little or no improvement in NHS services for people with multiple sclerosis, in the last five years, while NICE guidelines for the management of patients with MS are no closer to being met than when they were launched in 2003.
The national audit of services for people with multiple sclerosis 2011 showed that basic symptoms such as pain, fatigue and problems with cognition are not well treated. It also highlighted that despite people with MS losing on average 18 years of their working lives, most people do not have access to specialist vocational rehabilitation in most areas. It also found that one third of Trusts have no plans to improve neurological services in the next year.
