MS Trust Conference
A group of staff attended the MS Trust conference, held in Hinckley, over a long weekend in March. The conference is always an excellent learning and networking opportunity, where health care professionals working across different sectors in the UK, come together to share knowledge. The conference is subsidised by the MS Trust, a charity that commits to supporting and developing healthcare professional working with people living with MS. For me personally it was great to finally meet some of the Surrey MS Nurses and put faces to names. It was also great to meet up with staff from other MS therapy centres, including The Ryan Centre in Coulsdon and Reading Therapy centre.
The conference covered a range of topics, including updates in the criteria used to diagnose MS, which is likely to see more people being diagnosed earlier and some without obvious clinical symptoms. An area of discussion included the challenge of people living with MS who report disability progression despite no of evidence of relapse on MRI, and the phenomenon of ‘SAW’ (smouldering associated worsening), and scientific understanding of this continues to grow.
Sessions on supporting wellbeing for those living with MS, included management of bladder and bowel symptoms and sexual dysfunction. A session exploring experiences of domestic violence for people living with MS, opened some important conversation about the long-term relationship that health care providers have with people living with MS. I found these sessions particularly impactful and really highlighted to me the importance of The Samson Centre being an accessible haven, where individuals living with, and supporting those, with MS can feel safe and supported. As well as the centre being a valuable source of trusted information and advice from a well-informed health and exercise professionals. Over the next couple of months, you may notice some changes in our assessments to try and enable people to be able to discuss these subjects further.
The conference is a great opportunity to share good practise, and it was positive to see that many of our ways of working are shared by other places. Online classes remain well evidenced for their accessibility, which we know well at the Samson centre, and that all forms of exercise/ physical activity can have benefit for those living with MS. I was impressed with a project called ‘Digesting science’ which is a free, educational event that aims to teach children ages 6-12 years old with a parent with MS about different aspects of the disease in a fun and interactive way. I will be exploring if the Samson Centre could host an event later this year.
And finally, the conference always includes a quiz and disco. Unfortunately, our quiz knowledge wasn’t up to scratch, resulting in no podium placing, but we did embrace the ‘blue’ theme for the fancy dress!
Vicky