The lives of many people with neurological conditions could be greatly improved if an online national physiotherapy service was made available to them, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Ireland has said.

According to the charity, an investment of €880,000 could deliver a new national physiotherapy service to some of the 700,000 people in Ireland currently living with a neurological condition.

Using a combination of online and in-person services, MS Ireland estimates that this investment could deliver over 3,700 individual appointments, while almost 1,500 participants could take part in group programmes annually.

This could significantly improve the quality of life of many of those affected and save the health service millions of euro.

“Currently many people with neurological conditions have little or no access to physiotherapy. We found during Covid-19 that providing online physiotherapy programmes has far greater reach and impact than we anticipated.

“We now propose harnessing these advantages and resourcing a sustainable national physiotherapy service for people with MS and other neurological conditions,” explained MS Ireland CEO, Ava Battles.

She noted that people with neurological conditions currently account for one in eight consultations in primary care and one in five emergency admissions to hospital.

“Of these, in excess of 9,000 people are living with MS. Our research shows that people with this condition have very significant annual health service utilisation, with 54,000 GP visits, 16,450 nights in hospital and 1,544 emergency department visits per year. Our analysis is that delaying and reducing disability due to the condition could reduce costs to the health system annually by €19 million,” Ms Battles said.

According to MS Ireland clinical specialist physiotherapist, Prof Susan Coote, in any three-month period, over 50% of people with MS will experience a fall, which is similar to fall rates found in people over the age of 85.

“Our physiotherapy programmes teach people how to analyse their falls and give them management strategies to prevent future falls, thus preventing injury and the need for additional care. Physiotherapy also plays a vital role in preventing disability and in improving physical and mental health symptoms,” she explained.

MS Ireland is seeking to engage with the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the HSE on this issue. It has written to Minister Donnelly, the HSE and the Department of Health outlining its plan and the evidence to support it.

“We are calling for engagement to progress and deliver it. There are so many people who we can help to achieve better outcomes. Moving our services online during 2020 and 2021 enabled over 1,600 people attending local exercise classes to continue via Zoom.

“Meanwhile, 440 additional participants took part in a pilot ‘Active Neuro’ online programme in the mid-west region alone. This new programme also supported people with other neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. Our plan includes rolling out Active Neuro nationwide, bringing significant health benefits to thousands,” Ms Battles said.

She noted that during the pandemic, the charity was able to create online groups with similar needs, delivering treatments that were “really specific and highly effective”.

While she acknowledged that online services do not work for everybody and so future services should be a blend of ‘in person’ and online, she insisted that this plan has “enormous potential to improve the health of many people nationally”.

“What is needed is a sustainable structure and funding mechanism. We are calling on the Minister for Health and the HSE to work with us to ensure that people can access these benefits,” Ms Battles added.