Parliament reception
MND Scotland hosted a parliamentary reception in the Garden Lobby of the Scottish Parliament on the evening of 12th June. The reception was sponsored by Christina McKelvie MSP, who lost her father to the illness. 70 people affected by MND from all over Scotland (including as far as the Isle of Lewis) and 12 MSPs attended.
The newsletter of MND Scotland
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uest speakers were Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Alex Neil MSP and Frank Taylor, who has MND. Craig Stockton, our Chief Executive, introduced the event, raising the slow implementation of the Neurological Standards in Scotland’s health boards, the lack of NHS funding for the MND Scotland Care Team, problems experienced by people with MND relating to the payment of personal care, and our welfare reform campaign ‘Time to benefit people with MND’.
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Alex Neil MSP
Guests then viewed STV footage of our welfare reform campaign which included interviews with Frank Taylor (bottom centre), from Dalkeith, and Jamie Lynch (bottom right), from Aberdeen, on their experience of welfare reform. Frank followed the short film with a speech which explained his personal experience of assessment for welfare benefits in more detail.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Alex Neil MSP, picked up many of the points raised by Craig and Frank in his speech. He said he would look into speeding up the implementation of the Neurological Standards in Scotland, particularly the MND standards. He supported an expansion of the MND Care Team service and said that this should be put in place within a reasonable time.