SCOTTISH Labour has called for minimum standards of care to be set nationally to alleviate a postcode lottery in the treatment and support available to multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers.
The intervention by the party's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie came after a report published yesterday revealed one-third of patients in Scotland who could benefit from life-transforming medicines were taking them.
The findings were disclosed in a report by the MS Society, which showed just 36% of sufferers with relapsing forms of MS were receiving medication to tackle their symptoms. In Europe, only Poland and Romania fared worse.
The document also found four NHS boards are failing to meet official standards for giving patients access to the range of specialists they need. Scotland has one of the worst MS rates in the world.
Ms Baillie said: "Differing standards and approaches to care are something we should be worried about.
"Local services need to be delivered in the best interests of communities, but we need national minimum standards. Too much of our health care provision is down to where we live and not how best we should be cared for. This needs to change."
Public Health Minister Michael Matheson said the implementation of the Government's neurological clinical standards "will ensure people with MS get the earliest and most appropriate treatment".
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