MS patients 'suffering' in north east Essex

MS patients 'suffering' in north east Essex

8:00am Monday 29th April 2013 in News

MORE than 60 per cent of MS patients in north east Essex are not being given the correcttreatment for the condition.

Research carried out by the MS Society centres on access to disease modifying treatment drugs (DMTs) which research suggests can reduce MS relapses by one third.

There is a disparity with other parts of the UK, with some commissioning groups being prepared to fund the drugs and others not.

The society surveyed 88 people from north east Essex as part of a nationwide poll of more than 10,000 adults living with MS.

It is the largest UK survey among people with MS ever conducted.

Nick Rijke, Director of Policy and Research at the MS Society, added: These findings worryingly suggest that many people in north east Essex with MS are being denied treatments that can dramatically improve quality of life, reducing relapses and the range of often devastating symptoms that come with them.

People with MS are facing a lottery when it comes to accessing the care and support they need to manage their condition and this must change.

Not only does access to medicine vary hugely around the UK, but overall people in the UK have by far the worst access to medicine in Western Europe.

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MS patients 'suffering' in north east Essex