Summary
A MND Association report, based on a survey of 900 patients in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, indicates that approximately one fifth of people newly diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) experienced a delay of more than a year before seeing a neurologist for assistance in confirming their diagnosis. GPs are advised to be more vigilant about early warning signs of MND in order to improve earlier diagnosis rates. Rapid referral to a neurologist would improve the chances of sufferers getting appropriate help as soon as possible.
Reference
Mundasad, S. (2016). Motor neurone disease patients ‘face delays in seeing specialists’. London: BBC Health News, June 1st 2016.
The MND-Smart Trial
Examining new and existing drugs for potential MND treatments:
Reference
Hughes, D. (2020). MND: The search for new treatments. London: BBC Health News, January 15th 2020.
Commissioning for Value Neurological Focus Packs Available From NHS Right Care
Possibly of interest, in April 2016 NHS Right Care released three sets of “Commissioning for Value” packs to help CCGs identify opportunities for improving value for local populations.
These neurological, CVD and respiratory “focus packs” have been tailored for each CCG, to supply detailed information in these respective fields, with outcome measures and information on the most common diagnoses and procedures. The aim of these packs is to aid local planning to focus on opportunities to improve health outcomes and resource allocation, while reducing health inequalities and unwarranted variations.
Reference
Commissioning for Value: comprehensive data packs to support CCGs and NHS England in the regions. [Online]: NHS England, April 2016.
Updated NHS Right Care CCG “Where to Look” Packs
Earlier, in January 2016, a collection of updated CCG “Where to Look” Packs was made available.
NHS Right Care Maternity Focus Packs
A comprehensive collection of local Commissioning for Value Maternity and Early Years Focus Packs was also produced during April / May 2016.
A Bewildering Array of Informatics?
Furthermore, two NHS Right Care interactive atlas tools offer alternative flexible views of the data. These are shown below:
Note: Given their inherent complexity, the following tools, while available to all, are probably best left to the professionals.
The Commissioning for Value Tool 2016, enabling users to view maps, charts and tables for the indicators in the packs, across CCGs (and view spine charts of the indicators for one or more CCGs).
The Commissioning for Value Explorer 2016, enabling users to explore the relationships between two indicators using maps and scatter plots.
