In their recent BMJ paper (Doctors must grasp the key elements of living with progressive disability), BRITSpA’s Inaugural Chairman Dr Andrew Keat and colleague Liz Van Rossen reflect on critical aspects of terminal neurological care. They emphasise the immense importance of truthfully predicting the likely disease trajectory and the need to get the planning right at the beginning. They describe the vast range of services available within the community, provided by local authorities, many of which would be quite unfamiliar to most hospital doctors. Although this experience deals directly with neurological disease, the principals describe the huge range of community services that are equally applicable to chronic rheumatic disease. You can read the article here.
Dr Andrew Keat