“DEHUMANISING” benefits tests must end for Scots with multiple sclerosis (MS), a health charity says.
Scotland has one of the highest prevalences of MS in the world, with more than 700 people newly diagnosed every year.
It’s understood that more than 15,000 people live with the condition, which causes nerve damage that leads to chronic pain and difficulties with movement, speech and thinking.
MS Society Scotland is asking Holyrood 2021 candidates to make improving care and support for patients a key part of their campaign.
It wants parties to commit to make care, support and treatment person-centred, consistent and based within the community and to create a “world-leading, rights-based social security system” which will see an end to “dehumanising” assessments described by one man as an “interrogation”.
David Trotter of Dalkeith has been unable to work due to MS since he was diagnosed in 2004. Applications for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit support were so long he needed help to fill them in as his condition meant he couldn’t manage all the writing.
He also faced “long, drawn-out” appeals after assessors wrongly decided he could walk for 50 metres without pain, instead of the 12m he can cope with.
He said: “The PIP process made me feel like a number – it’s a one-size-fits-all. People with MS all have very different experiences, let alone people with different conditions.
“My nearest bus stop is 200m away and I don’t know where I’m supposed to be able to go. I can’t do little things like pick up my prescription, go to the doctor or help drive my girlfriend somewhere.
“We shouldn’t be made to feel like we’re under interrogation at an assessment but relying on medical advice from doctors and clinicians.”
MS Society Scotland is calling for the scrapping of the “nonsensical” 20m rule which sets a benchmark for higher levels of support when the devolution of powers is completed.
The charity’s director Morna Simpkins said: “Everyone living with MS, their family and friends has a unique MS story and it’s vital that the health, social and financial support available in Scotland reflects that. We have been heartened by the progress made as social security becomes devolved but there is still much work to be done to reach a longer term vision which removes the financial barriers to independent living for people with fluctuating neurological conditions like MS.
“Perhaps more than ever mental and emotional health is at the forefront of people’s minds and our research tells us that members of the MS community are more likely to be affected by isolation and loneliness.
“Our manifesto lays out these key issues for people living with MS across Scotland and calls on candidates to recognise the impacts they have. We want prospective MSPs to get louder for MS for their constituents as they campaign and commit to being bold for real change should they be elected.”
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