Diagnosed with MS recently but couldn't an appointment from Charing Cross Hospital

Hi ,

Hope you all doing well and keeping safe.

My name is Ceren and we moved to the UK 3 years ago with my husband due to his work. I am Turkish and I am diagnosed with MS type 2 during our family visit on October 2020 in Turkey.

I started my treatment with Glatiramer Acetate back in October and we recently came back to the UK on 14th January. We shared all the reports and formal letters with our GP on 11th January and they requested an urgent appointment from Charing Cross hospital but still we didn’t received a call.

We will run out of my Glatiramer Acetate ( Copaxone) needle within 15 days.

Could you please advise me what I can do to get the needle’s in the UK?

I totally understand the hospital’s were very busy due to Covid19 but I got all my MR screenings in Turkey and I have all my reports in English. I shared all the details with my GP but they are not able to write prescription for me to get them from a pharmacy. Is there a way to continue my treatment?

Thank you in advance and hope to hearing from you soon.

Hi Ceren

Have a look at the packaging to see if there is an address/phone number.

Difficult situation for you.

You could contact PALS (Patient Advisory Liaison service) about your situation.

Could your GP help by finding another hospital for you? Or by contacting the manufacturer of Copaxone?

You ought to have been allocated a MS nurse by Charing Cross hospital too.

Your needles will be sent directly to you, not a chemist.

Good luck, I hope you get your needles soon.

C x

I am sorry - that’s such a worry for you. I have picked up a rumour that Charing Cross neurology staff seem, in part at least, to have been temporarily redeployed to the Covid wards, so it’s not just you who’s being left in the lurch. But that’s just an informal rumour - I have no actual information and I am not a Charing Cross patient myself. You might get responses from other Charing Cross patients who know what’s actually going on. I hope that normal service is resumed very soon.

ALison