The BrAMS Appeal

"The new unit iswell placed to provide a regional MS centre of excellence in North Bristol with Drs David Cottrell, Alastair Wilkins and myself, with our steadily growing team, dedicated towards clinical care and research in this difficult disease. The refurbishment of the Glial Cell Laboratories at Frenchay will provide us with a timely and relatively inexpensive way to get this work off the ground while the new MS laboratories at the neighbouring Burden Institute will accommodate front-line research into stem cell and other new treatment programmes. These developments are vital if North Bristol NHS Trust is to remain at the forefront of the fast-moving field of research and treatment into multiple sclerosis. Neil Scolding Professor of Clinical Neurosciences North Bristol NHS Trust & University of Bristol

We have now launched our £250,000 appeal to create a new care centre for people with multiple sclerosis. The money will be used to refurbish an existing laboratory suite at Frenchay Hospital that will provide the centre for patients and new research facilities for scientists. We will initially use the £250,000 to convert the existing laboratory facilities into a care centre, including the provision of an IT network, furnishing the building and staff costs including nursing, physiotherapy and urology. Specialists at the centre will be able to help with treatment, therapy, advice, and the vital research which needs to be carried out. A significant part of the £250,000 would be used to purchase equipment that will be transferred to the new acute hospital when in opens in Southmead. We aim to provide a site with disabled access, offering clinics dedicated to patients with multiple sclerosis so they can carry out high quality patient treatment and social care. They also hope to provide swift access to relapse clinics, treatment and MS nurse intervention with a dedicated site for day-case intravenous medications and botulinum toxin injections. The plans would allow expansion of the current MS team, who would be able to transfer to Southmead in 2014. An ongoing research programme into the use of stem cell treatments for MS sufferers and other therapies would be accelerated through the new centre along with the possibility of increased involvement in international clinical trials.