What should we offer?

We only offer services and activities that are safe, effective and have a positive impact on the people who use them.

See Group Handbook B6: Planning and delivering quality services and activities

1. Our local priorities
2. Reaching out
3. Keeping everyone safe
4. Services for young people
5. Clinical services and complementary therapies
6. Local campaigning
7. Need support?

Our local priorities

We’ve worked with our volunteers and people affected by MS to identify our local priorities. Each service or activity you provide must meet one of these priorities.

• We provide social and peer group support
• We support people with MS to be physically active
• We offer emotional support to people affected by MS
• We give information and signpost people to local services

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Reaching out

We’re here for everyone affected by MS. Our groups support large numbers of people but there are others we don’t always reach. We need to make sure our work is inclusive, and that we actively work to engage with as much of the MS community as possible. When planning a service or activity, your group needs to consider:

• How you advertise and get people interested in what you are providing
• How you can make the services and activities you deliver as accessible and welcoming as possible

1. See Availability, contact and communication for more on promoting your services and activities

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Keeping everyone safe

We all share a responsibility for the health, safety and wellbeing of the people who use our services and activities. Our safeguarding risk guidance documents will help you plan and deliver services and activities that are safe for everyone who attends.

1. Day Centre safeguarding risk guidance
2. Group activity safeguarding risk guidance
3. MS Support safeguarding risk guidance
4. One to one regulated activity safeguarding risk guidance
5. Transport safeguarding risk guidance

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Services for young people

We don’t actively provide or promote services to young people under the age of 18. However, we don’t want to exclude young people (aged 16 or 17) from accessing services that would be beneficial to them.

If a young person enquires about using a service your group provides, or you are considering developing a service for young people, you must contact our Safeguarding Lead for advice. An individual assessment of each request must be made before you proceed.

1. Get contact details for our Safeguarding Lead

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Clinical services and complementary therapies

All clinical services and complementary therapies your group offers must have proven benefits for people living with MS, and meet our service delivery criteria.

Clinical services

We define clinical services as, “healthcare services which relate to the direct treatment of a person to alleviate their symptoms of MS”.

All clinical services your group provides or funds must meet this criteria:

• Delivered by competent professionals through the use of a standardised service level agreement (SLA)
• Based on evidence of need and impact
• Not a duplication of existing NHS service delivery or services the NHS is expected to deliver
• Centred on the individual needs of each person, not a ‘one size fits all approach’
• Delivered as purposeful ‘interventions’ with goals so we can measure the outcomes
• Meet our principles of quality service delivery
• Enable people with MS to move between 'joined up' treatment, care and support right for their needs and provided by the organisation best able to deliver this service at the right time

Complementary therapies

We define complementary therapies as, “therapies which have been developed outside of mainstream medical and scientific thinking which are used in addition to healthcare services, as well as by people with no specific condition”.

All complementary therapies your group provides or funds must meet this criteria:

• Delivered by competent professionals and through a standardised service level agreement (SLA)
• Meet our principles of quality service delivery
• We will not provide or fund complementary therapies where there is a reasonable (even if low) risk of harm to individuals, no clear evidence of benefit and no likely impact on overall wellbeing
• When deciding how much to invest in funding complementary therapies, we expect your group to consider likely impact and reach of these services, the cost of providing them and other demands on your resources

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Local campaigning

As you speak to MS professionals, MS Society staff, members and other people affected by MS, you may learn that services provided by the NHS don’t meet the needs of people in your area, or are not readily accessible.

Where this is the case, it may be more appropriate to campaign for improved provision before committing resources to establishing our own service or activity. We have developed a Local Campaigning Toolkit to help you to do this.

1. Download our Local Campaigning Toolkit

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Need support?

Your Local Networks Officer is here to support your group to develop services and activities that meet the needs of your MS community.

1. Get contact details for your Local Networks Officer

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