Abstract
Previous research into Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) has shown that there are significant barriers in providing patient-centred care. However, there has been no specific research into whether patient experiences of care for FND meet the current standards of care. This study aimed to investigate the types of problems experienced by FND patients, and whether these differed to patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). FND (n = 40) and MS patients (n = 37) were recruited from NHS tertiary neurology clinics and completed questionnaires on their experiences of health care services. Significant differences in experiences of care between the two patient groups were found, with FND patients reporting significantly more problems in their diagnosis and treatment (p = 0.003), patient-centred care (p < 0.001), relationships with healthcare professionals (p < 0.001), and in accessing community care (p = 0.001). Limitations include a small sample size, specificity to a single centre, and cross-sectional design. The results suggest that current care for FND patients is not meeting expected standards for long-term neurological conditions, highlighting the need for structured care pathways and patient-centred care.
Highlights
Long-term neurological conditions (LTNCs) are conditions arising from damage to or a disease of the nervous system that confers a life-long impact to the individual [1]
These results indicate that the current care provided to FND patients within the NHS is falling significantly short of the standards of care expected for LTNCs, highlighting potential areas for improvement
More control groups are needed using a wider range of psychiatric and neurological conditions, as well as other types of functional disorders, to parse out the specific difficulties experienced by people with FND. These results suggest that negative attitudes and perceptions of FND from healthcare professionals, along with a general lack of structured care pathways for FND, may contribute to a greater burden and poorer experience of care for these patients
Summary
Long-term neurological conditions (LTNCs) are conditions arising from damage to or a disease of the nervous system that confers a life-long impact to the individual [1]. A large-scale survey of patients with LTNCs in the UK found multiple issues, including delays in diagnosis and referral, a lack of structured care plans, and problems in accessing services or treatments [3]. These unmet needs may contribute to increased care burden and costs for patients as they seek the use informal and community-based care instead [4,5,6].
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