A new event has been launched to aid carers and supporters of people with motor neuron disease (MND) following the death of Scottish rugby legend Doddie Weir.

The MND Carer’s Academy will take place in early 2023 at the Institute for Neurological Sciences.

Doddie Weir was an avid campaigner for MND awareness and set up the Doddie Weir Foundation to support work towards a cure.

The NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s neurological services within the Institute provide care for patients and families from across the West of Scotland who are living with MND.

The new carer training program will focus on carers and loved ones, bringing together medical professionals, support, and advice agencies to provide information and equip carers emotionally for the challenges of MND.

The session will be led by the needs and wishes of families and caregivers and the NHSGGC is currently taking feedback from them about what they would like to see covered.

Topics will include a basic introduction to MND and practical advice on support with eating and swallowing, breathing support, moving and handling and pain management, to more difficult subjects such as loss of communication, palliative care, and benefits and financial support.

Dr George Gorrie, a consultant neurologist with NHSGGC, has been one of the driving forces behind the Carers’ Academy.

He said: “Everybody knows that MND is incurable, and receiving a diagnosis of MND is invariably a devastating event for the patient, and their loved ones.

“From that moment on, the person receiving that diagnosis – the patient – is rightly at the centre of all the services we provide. However, there is a danger that carers, who are such an important component of MND care, can be forgotten.

“That was the motivation behind the MND Carers’ Academy, and we hope it will make a real difference to everyone involved in a family’s MND journey by giving carers much-needed support, both practically and emotionally, by professionals, the third sector and through peer support of other families in the west of Scotland who have lived through similar experiences.

“By equipping the carers with the tools they need, the knock-on benefits for the patient will be significant.”

More information about dates for the Carers’ Academy will be released over the coming weeks. However, if you would like to take part in the event – either as a support agency/charity or as a carer – please contact the Neurology Framework Team on 0141 201 2503.