It’s simple – learning from each other improves patient experience and allows healthcare professionals to apply science to the individuals they care for.

Sharing best practice is at the heart of the QuDoS recognition event, but it’s something the South East London, Kent and Medway (SELKAM) Regional MS Advisory Group have been doing for the best part of two decades.

SELKAM was set up nearly 20 years ago to provide MS nurses, many of whom were working in isolation, with education and clinical supervision. Since then, the group has expanded its geographical reach and adopted a more multidisciplinary approach, but its key focus – supporting and learning from each other – has never changed.

In November, their unwavering dedication to patient care was rewarded with a QuDoS Judges’ Special Award, much to the delight of SELKAM co-chair, Maureen Ennis.

“It was a real recognition of the value the group has been providing for 20 years,” said Maureen, who has been working in MS for 26 years.

It was something of a surprise on the night, as SELKAM had not been shortlisted in its nominated category, Team of the Year, she added.

Said Maureen: “I had already texted my colleagues to say that we hadn’t got it, but then they started reading the biography for the winners of the special awards and I just thought ‘wow, that’s us’.

“This is great for the team. It will really raise their profile and let people know that we are here. We have done a lot of work over the years and this is a great recognition of that.”

Guiding future care

One piece of work SELKAM is particularly proud of really demonstrates the impact collaboration and sharing best practice can have.  In 2008, the group worked with consultants and other partners to develop one of the country’s first MS relapse management guidelines.

Explaining the need for the document, Maureen said: “At the time, you could treat a relapse with a course of steroids, but patient’s would be unlikely to get the same course of steroids twice – it would be different from consultant to consultant.

“I can remember meeting with my consultant colleagues and agreeing together that we all needed to be prescribing the same thing at the same time. We worked on the guidelines together and after that we all started singing from the same hymn sheet.”

Over the years, these guidelines have been shared with fellow trusts and services, updated to reflect latest evidence and now they form the basis of the current NICE recommendations which centres across the country follow.

SELKAM, which provides members with an email enquiry line and education sessions on new treatments and care pathways, is proud of the project, as well as being modest about its impact.

“Publicly sharing things like guidelines, experience and knowledge, makes for a much better grounding for patient experience. It’s just so important that we keep learning from each other for the good of our patients,” said Maureen.

As the health service has become more committed to this kind of joint working, MS care has improved, Maureen believes.

“During the time I have been in MS, two things have changed. Obviously, the availability of medications to alter the trajectory of the disease, but you also have people working more collaboratively to look at the best ways to do things,” she said, adding that multidisciplinary working benefited patients by broadening the spectrum of expertise on offer.

“At the same time, we are working towards this much better model whereby we really empower the patient with education and support at the appropriate time, and engage them in the decisions about their treatment and care. That’s really important.”

Keeping up

Patient centred care makes for better treatment and monitoring adherence, and enables the self-management that improves quality of life, Maureen, who qualified as a nurse in 1981, explained.

“I don’t treat MS, I treat people, and no two are the same. That’s the privilege of the job. It’s always a challenge and there’s always something to learn, both from the people you work with and about the changes in medical science that you have to keep on top of.

“This job is about the art of applying the science to the individual. You have to see the individual at the centre of what you do, because if you don’t, you’ll get it wrong.”

Recognising unsung heroes

While being at the QuDoS recognition event was “amazing”, Maureen went on to say that it was important to remember that MS services up and down the country were working hard to provide high-quality care.

“There are lots of unsung heroes. They are working with their nose to the grindstone, day in day out, providing excellent services and going above and beyond for their patients. We all need to sing their praises, too,” she said.

• To find out how to set up your own regional advisory group, read the SELKAM case study here