|| Why is the Mid Anglia region disappearing?
The Society are re-zoning the regions to reflect the areas covered by the Strategic Health Authorities.
Leighton Buzzard & District, Luton, Dunstable & District and Bedfordshire branches have joined the Herts, Essex & Beds region which will be the new East Anglia South area.
Huntingdon & District, Peterborough & District and Ely branches have joined the East Anglia North region which will include the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire areas.
Northampton & District and Kettering & District branches have joined the East Midlands region which includes the Lincolnshire, Leicestshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire areas.
- These regional names have not yet been confirmed and may well change in the near future!
So, who's going where?
The MS Society, in its new strategy, has made a commitment to “align our regional boundaries with those of local government and the NHS in order to maximise our impact in relation to health and social care services”.
What this means in practice is that while we will continue to have our own smaller regions within the Society, their boundaries will fall within those of the NHS Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs).
For much of the country this will not have any impact as the boundaries are already aligned. But, there are a few areas where this is not the case. Mid Anglia is unfortunately the region most significantly affected, as Northamptonshire falls into the East Midlands SHA while Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire fall into the East of England SHA.
The Mid Anglia region will therefore come to an end and the counties that make it up will be assigned to other regions. Northamptonshire will become part of the Trent region (to be known as East Midlands), Cambridgeshire part of East Anglia, and Bedfordshire part of the region currently known as Herts & Essex.
Additionally, the SHA boundary for Yorkshire and Humberside takes in the area south of the Humber which includes Grimsby and Scunthorpe. Responsibility for our Scunthorpe Branch will therefore be taken over by the Yorkshire & Humberside region.
Although it is very sad to see the end of our regions as we know them, it is also very important for the Society, if it is to be truly effective in delivering better services for people affected by MS, to ensure that we organise ourselves in a way which is going to make it easiest to negotiate with the NHS and social care providers.
It is unfortunate that their boundaries do not correspond well with those of our regions. However, over time the advantages will certainly outweigh the disadvantages.
