24 February 2022

More than 7,000 people are living with a neurological condition in Milton Keynes – set to increase to more than 8,000 by 2026.

The data also shows that people with neurological conditions report the worst quality of life for all long-term conditions.

The Neurological Alliance Patient Experience Survey 2018/19 found that 70.7% of neurological patients in Milton Keynes have other conditions.

The physiotherapy team at the Neurological Conditions Service in Milton Keynes decided it had to help its patient group become more active but knew that many of its patients were nervous about going to a gym.

Many felt that gym staff didn’t really understand their conditions and felt that many gyms were not disability-friendly.

This led to the team’s launch of the ‘Milton Keynes Community Active Neuro Group’, known as ‘MK CAN’, in September last year.

This runs from a community gym at Shenley Wood Retirement Village every Wednesday afternoon, costing just £3 per person per session to cover the cost of using the gym.

This has proved so successful that last month the team decided that it could run two groups of patients at the same time.  

The team has designed an eight-week programme with up to six people in the group – and up to two new patients at any one time.

Each patient receives an individualised assessment prior to starting the group, during which ‘baseline’ outcome measurements are taken. These measurements are repeated once they’ve finished the programme.

Once they finish the group they are encouraged to join the gym for a discounted price of £16 a month.

To date, 12 people have completed the group, all of whom have provided excellent feedback.