Neuropharmacist faculty member’s project featured in MS Trust publication

The MS Trust has just released its fifth issue of ‘MS in Practice’, a valuable resource outlining examples of positive practice and reviewing the practical application of new guidance for those with an interest in multiple sclerosis (MS).

This particular issue features an article about the disease-modifying therapy (DMT) cost calculator, developed by neuropharmacist and faculty member Rachel Dorsey-Campbell. Rachel, who also helped to develop our latest MasterClass for neuropharmacists, presented the early findings of the tool last year at our event: ‘the Way Forward: addressing MS service variance in the UK’.

Covered in more detail in our Spotlight article following the event, Rachel shared initial findings that with over 20,000 patients on a DMT, the cost in blood tests alone is in excess of £350,000 each year. The breakdown of monitoring itself was calculated to cause a burden in staff time of over 26 hours per month and whilst this time is occasionally supported through an administrative role (a cost calculation which has also been carried out), it is usually provided entirely by an MS specialist nurse or pharmacist. Taking all this into account, the annual – currently uncommissioned – cost in staff time could be as much as £1.2 million.

To find out the latest in this exciting project see page 9 of the issue.

This issue OF ‘MS in Practice’ also covers:

• Ocrelizumab (Ocrevus) for people with Primary Progressive MS
• New DMD pregnancy guidelines
• Introducing Paru Naik, interim Director of Health Professional Programmes
• QuDoS in MS 2019
• Reducing wait times in the Leicester MS service
• Encouraging people to be more active - talking about exercise
• Quality of Life checklist tool
• The costs of DMT monitoring

Find a copy online or visit the MS Trust’s website to read issue 5, or for back issues of the valuable newsletter.