Patient criticises health bosses

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Ms Keats says hardly any consultants know about the condition

A Derby woman with muscular dystrophy has travelled to parliament to ask why health bosses in the East Midlands are not meeting her needs.

Margot Keats also wants to see a specialist centre set up in the region.

NHS leaders were being challenged by MPs after admitting health care services for people with a muscle disease were "not totally adequate".

Health trusts said they were reviewing services, but Ms Keats said improvements were urgently needed.

'Limited basis'

She said: "There's hardly any consultants that actually know about the condition.

"There are so many people that are basically floundering, not knowing where to go. They may be diagnosed but they're actually then left on their own."

South Derbyshire MP Mark Todd wrote to the primary care trusts in Derby and Derbyshire after the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Muscular Dystrophy published the Walton Report which criticised many services nationally.

Derbyshire PCT admitted in its response that services such as physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, specialist nurse and psychology were "sometimes not totally adequate".

Derby PCT said: "We can confirm that physiotherapy and hydrotherapy services are provided, but still on a limited basis".

The East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group (EMSCG), which funds specialised health services on behalf of all nine East Midlands primary care trusts (PCTs), said it would co-ordinate a regional review of all hospital treatment for patients with a range of neuromuscular disorders over the next 12 months.

Muscular dystrophies are a group of more than 20 different genetic neuromuscular disorders, some of which are more debilitating than others.