Northern Ireland Council - 2020 Review and 2021 Annual Plan
Our Northern Ireland Council provides a voice for our community across Northern Ireland, acting as an ambassador for our cause and an advocate for people affected by MS.
Each year, our Northern Ireland Council develops an annual plan of activity to support the delivery of our strategy and hear what matters most to our MS community in Northern Ireland.
Council Chair, Catherine Doran attends quarterly Board meetings to report on the Council’s progress and raise the issues that matter most in Northern Ireland.
Catherine also sits on the Board’s Nominations Committee, which oversees recruitment and development of our Board and Councils. We’re saying goodbye to Catherine at the end of 2021, as she reaches the end of her term and retires from the Council.
Looking back on 2020
During 2020, our Northern Ireland Council focused on supporting local groups to respond to the emerging COVID crisis, including moving much of our local activity online, and keeping engaged with the MS community during periods of lockdown.
We continued to support people with MS through the reviews and inquiries established in Northern Ireland after the recall in 2018 of over 3,000 neurology patients by the Belfast HSC Trust and the resulting concerns about the diagnosis and care of many patients.
We also supported the Executive Team to make substantial changes to the organisation’s structure and activity following a significant reduction in income caused by COVID, and ensured that the needs of the MS community were at the forefront throughout those changes.
Our Northern Ireland Council in 2021
During 2021, our Northern Ireland Council will focus on supporting our network of groups to resume face to face activity within their communities as soon as it is safe to do so, and embedding changes to our staff structures that were made in 2020 as a result of COVID.
We will empower our MS community to engage with the Health Service, professional bodies, MLAs and MPs to keep MS high on the agenda. We will also continue to support our Stop MS Appeal by raising funds and mobilising the MS community.
Northern Ireland Council Recruitment in 2021
We’re looking for a Council Chair to join our Northern Ireland Council in January 2022.
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About us
We’re the MS Society – a community of people living with MS, scientists, campaigners, volunteers and fundraisers.
We understand what life’s like with MS, and we support each other through the highs, lows and everything in between.
And we’re driving research into more – and better – treatments. For everyone.
Together, we are strong enough to stop MS.
