What would improve MS clinic services for cognition? – A stakeholder panel and survey exploration

Cognitive difficulties in MS are widely acknowledged to have a major negative impact on the lives of people with MS (PwMS). However they are viewed as “invisible” symptoms, sometimes overlooked or ignored by health professionals. DL and CAY are in the process of writing a cognition handbook for MS clinics, summarising practical information to help the MS multidisciplinary team improve care for PwMS who have cognitive difficulties. We convened a stakeholder panel and offered a survey at a major MS professional education conference, to understand what content would be most helpful for our clinic handbook. The survey showed that health professionals think that cognition is not generally addressed well by clinics and that infrastructure and resources, education and information for both PwMS and professionals, and technologies to assess and treat cognition are all required to deliver better cognition services in MS clinics.