Wiltshire, Hampshire and Islands Region
The MS Society has 16 regions across England all of which are run by teams of volunteers working closely with members of staff. Each Region provides a vital link between the branches and the National Centre ensuring via the Local Support Development Officer that the NC fully understands the branches needs and can provide competent support without being overwhelmed by direct interfaces with all 300+ branches. In addition, as a fulltime staff member representing a large service user group - the branch members - the Service Development Officer can lobby very effectively for improvements in special service provision with local PCTs, SHAs and other statutory bodies.
Wilts Hants & Islands Boundary changes
The MS Society in its new strategy made a commitment to “align our regional boundaries with those of local government and the NHS in order to maximise our impact in relation to health and social care services”. What this means in practice is that while we will continue to have our own smaller regions within the Society, their boundaries will fall within those of the NHS Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs).
While for much of the country this has not had any impact as the boundaries are already aligned, there are areas where this is not the case. Wilts, Hants & Islands is one of the regions most significantly affected, as Wiltshire falls into the South West SHA while Hampshire and the Isle of Wight fall into the South Central SHA.
Wiltshire will therefore become part of the Wessex and West region, while Hampshire and the Islands continue as a region. This will happen gradually throughout this year, with the changeover completed by January 2009.
There is no reason at all for relationships between the branches in Wiltshire and those in the Hampshire & the Islands region to end, and we will continue to advertise our activities and events to those branches. The Wessex & West Region, is also very active in its own right.
The MS Society branches that will move into the Wessex & West region are:
- Swindon
- Salisbury
- Devizes
- Warminster
Hampshire and the Islands region will now consist of the following branches:
- Alton
- Andover
- Basingstoke
- Farnborough
- Gosport & Fareham
- Guernsey
- Isle of Wight
- Jersey
- Lymington
- Portsmouth
- Southampton
- Winchester
I do hope that this is clear. If you have any queries at all please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sue HannafordLocal Support Development Officer
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