London Region

My name is Carolin Seitz and I am working in North London as Service Development Officer. My role is to work with health and social care providers to look at what health and social care services are available in the region and whether they are meeting the needs of people with MS.



Together with the local branches, members and a group of service development volunteers I work on improving such services. My remit is wide and my work includes increasing the number of MS Nurses, supporting and maintaining the existing MS Specialist posts as well as working with social services; providing training and supporting new projects joining health and social care.

I also work with other voluntary organisations to improve services for people with MS in the region. Examples of my work are:
• MS education to health and social care professionals
• Partnerships with health and social care professionals
• Support to our MS Specialists
• Information about government initiatives
• Taking part in local initiatives to implement government guidelines

Contact: Mobile 07899 967624 or e-mail me Carolin

Please feel free to contact the Service Development Officers for the following:

• Setting up and funding MS Nurse, Physiotherapy and other specialist posts.
• Information on government initiatives such as NSF LTC (National Service Framework for Long Term Conditions), NICE Guidelines for MS in Primary and Secondary Care, and the White Paper “Our Health, our care , our say”.
• Improving health and social care services for your community.
• MS Education to health and social care services e.g. General Practitioners and Social Services staff.
• Partnerships with health and social care professionals such as neurology networks, disability and carer forums.
• Disseminating information about health and social care activities/meetings in your area.
• Support for MS specialists.

Assessing Regional Needs

London is a complex region with a high density and diversity of services. To capture the local differences in needs and service provision the London team has carried out an assessment of regional needs which helped us to recognize the major gaps in service development in 2006. Those gaps have led to the identification of five key priorities for service development in 2007, mainly:

• Improving on the quality of information we already have to provide a baseline against which we can measure our service development efforts. Reduce inequalities in provision of health and social care.
• Forging new ties and maintaining existing relationships with voluntary organisations to ensure effective use of resources.
• Education and training for health and social care professionals as well as for people affected by MS.
• Provide more information on assistive technologies and continue to campaign for improvements in access to transport.
• Partnership working at local and strategic levels.

The full Regional Needs Assessment Summary can be found on the link below:

Are you affected by MS? Would like an opportunity to help develop services in your region? Would you like to be in a position to influence health and social care professionals in your area? If the answer is yes, then you might be just the person we are looking for. Every day, ordinary people make an extraordinary difference to the lives of people affected by MS.

We are entirely dependent upon volunteers and more are always needed. What ever your skills or expertise or experience, there is always something for you.

To find out more about Service Development Volunteering please email either of the Service Development Officers Carolin or Shannon
or you can contact the Service Development Team at MSNC, 372 Edgware Road, NW2 6ND London, Phone 0208 438 0742. E-mail service development