At full council on 11th September 2023, Nottingham City Council unanimously passed a motion resolving to adopt the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Charter, which sets out the care and support that local people living with MND and their carers deserve and should expect. The motion also commits to promoting the charter and raising awareness of Motor Neurone Disease.
Motor Neurone Disease is a debilitating disease that steals sufferer’s independence. This degenerative disease robs its sufferers of mobility, the ability to eat, speak and eventually to breathe. All those who suffer Motor Neurone disease will die. It may take months, or years or for some decades. When someone is afflicted with this disease, their family and loved ones have to watch as they slowly and inevitably decline. This is heart breaking and distressing for those affected and their loved ones and families. It is compounded by the fact that it is often a difficult and lengthy process to get a diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease.
Considering the disease and the current difficulty in diagnosis, the Motor Neurone Disease Charter adopted by Nottingham City Council set outs five key points:
- The right to an early diagnosis and information
- The right to access quality care and treatments
- The right to be treated as individuals and with dignity and respect
- The right to maximise their quality of life
- Carers of people with MND have the right to be valued, respected, listened to and well-supported.
All people deserve a quality of life, to be treated with respect and dignity with access to care and treatment and information about what diseases they have. The charter makes it clear that those suffering from MND deserve exactly the same as anyone else. Nottingham Labour is proud that as a council we have agreed to recognise and set out these points to help ensure that those suffering from MND and their families can be treated well, and that the impact of such a horrible disease is lessened as much as possible.
Cllr Nayab Patel in proposing the motion stated “ We would like to acknowledge the work of all the volunteers in the Nottingham Branch in their help to assist and support people living with MND and the support they give to their carers whenever possible. It is commendable that these volunteers stay as volunteers for a long time as they are committed to helping fight this terrible disease. The adoption of the Charter will be the first step in a lasting relationship with the MND association where we work together to ensure people with MND get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”
Cllr Linda Woodings, Portfolio for Adults Social Care and Health seconded the motion “this charter is a statement of the respect, care and support that people living with MND and their carers deserve and should expect including the right to maximize their quality of life.
And within our Transformation programs in adult social care I hope that some of these objectives will be met. Because we seek to reduce our backlog in Occupational Therapist assessments, expand and speed up our use of adaptations and technology enabled care, all with the hope that we can help people who develop conditions like MND to remain in their homes, with support, and to have the dignity of living independently for as long as they can.”
The motion carried with cross-party support and it highlights the values of Nottingham Labour in seeking to ensure that all those in the city are treated with dignity and respect and that their needs are met. Now Nottingham Labour and the City Council will do all we can to raise awareness of MND and look into what good care for sufferers looks like, and what the council can do to ensure that where we provide care for sufferers it is of good quality