Morna Simpkins reflects on this year and looks forward to 2021
The pandemic has highlighted just how key charitable organisations can be for people living with health conditions.
The #NeverMoreNeeded campaign gave focus to the hard work put in to ensuring that support and information was available as we faced changes to how we lived our daily lives that few could have predicted.
It has been difficult for the past nine months not to focus on how what we do is related to coronavirus, its restrictions and overcoming those challenges.
The fact remains that for those with long term health conditions concerns over access to treatment, assessments for social security and keeping connected with friends, family and peers haven’t melted away during the pandemic. Indeed we know for many they have increased and can have long term effects.
As talk turns now to vaccine roll-outs and, potentially, the end being in sight we must not forget the hard work to be done.
That’s why we want to see politicians stand up and tackle the issues that existed pre-pandemic and which will continue into the new parliament.
We recently launched our manifesto which highlights the changes in health, financial and social support needed to make sure we’re best supporting the 15,000 people in Scotland living with MS.
Ongoing financial support for businesses and the public will undoubtedly lead to tight budgets in the coming months and years.
As a result, fighting for fair treatment of people with MS and other long-term health conditions is as important as ever.
We have been heartened by the progress made in the Scottish Government’s approach to devolved social security over the past year but there is still much to be done.
Real support for people living with fluctuating conditions like MS will need to be based in evidence and treat claimants as people. An end to assessments that fail to do so is welcome but the Personal Independence Payments (PIP) 20 metre rule must follow. Denying people support on the basis of how far they can walk doesn’t make sense, doesn’t follow the evidence and can have hugely adverse effects on people’s lives.
While the news cycle followed the progress of the virus we’ve also seen the approval of yet more new treatments for MS – including the first ever for the primary progressive form of the condition.
However, despite these developments, and those of previous years, our community has told us that people still face challenges in accessing the treatments they need. Whatever the reasons, access to these life changing therapies should not depend on where you live and we need to make changes to ensure that in future it won’t.
Communities across the country pulled together in the face of hardship this year and the work of volunteers and local MS groups gave people access to services, adapted at lightning speed, and connection to others that was need more than ever. This demonstrated their fortitude and desire to help others and the ever-increasing importance of technology in what the third sector does.
The next administration must commit to taking digital exclusion head-on. As charities, businesses and the NHS move online we can’t afford to leave people behind.
As much as it can Covid-19 has consumed our lives the truth is that for tens of thousands of people in Scotland it has only compounded the challenges they face.
Hopefully a new year will bring with it further progress in fighting the pandemic but let’s use that reprieve and the knowledge we’ve gained to build back better.
Morna Simpkins is director of MS Society Scotland
