MS patients in Wales face six-hour round trips to England for specialist care, charity warns

MS patients in Wales can face six-hour round trips to England for specialist care, a charity has warned.

Research for MS Society Cymru found that a shortage of specialist NHS staff is leading to long waits for treatment.

Nearly 7,000 people in Wales live with MS, which affects the central nervous system and can cause symptoms including blurred vision and mobility problems.

The Welsh government said it “plans to ensure people with long-term conditions like MS are treated closer to home”.

Eirlys Ryder, 70, from Rhosmeirch on Anglesey, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 17 years ago.

Ryder said: “Because you’re having to make that extra effort to travel in the car for a couple of hours, that does affect the condition.”

Her specialist is based in Liverpool, but she meets them halfway, driving an hour to Glan Clwyd hospital in Denbighshire.

Ryder said: “It does affect the way you are on that day, and for maybe a week or so after.

“So it’s not just on that day that you might feel it can affect you for days after.”

The latest research by MS Society Cymru suggests her experience is not unusual.

It found north Wales has the lowest number of available MS consultants, with some patients facing six-hour round trips to obtain specialist care, while MS nurses had caseloads 30 per cent above recommended levels.

Ian Simpson, from MS Society Cymru, called it a “postcode lottery”.

He said: “There are significant health inequalities depending on where you are in Wales – north-south and east-west, rural or urban, and we think that’s unacceptable.

“People should be able to access the same level of care wherever they are in Wales.”

The Welsh government said it wants “to improve access to rehabilitation and tailored multi-disciplinary support” and is working to ensure that patients are “supported to live their best lives”.

Campaigners such as Stuart Nixon, from Newport, who has MS, said major investment is needed to address staff shortages.

Nixon said: “What we’ve got to see is the current government actually implement what they are suggesting we need.

“Come and ask me – I know what it’s about.

“People with lived experience can really tell you what we need to do.”