AFTER years of campaigning, the Salisbury branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society is celebrating its success in getting the go-ahead for a specialist nurse for south Wiltshire.

An MS specialist post has been agreed as a new development for the community, following joint working between local people with MS, South Wiltshire primary care trust, Salisbury health care NHS trust and the MS Society.

Chris Pitts, of Downton, father of Sally Bailey, an MS sufferer, has been campaigning to highlight the need for a specialist nurse in the area.

He said that it was wonderful news and added: "We are over the moon.

"My daughter, Sally, is very happy about it."

Mr Pitts said that, although the nurses and doctors have been wonderful in looking after Sally, MS sufferers in the area needed someone specialised in MS to help people come to terms with the disease.

Mr Pitts wrote a letter to the PCT in 2001, after which meetings were instigated by Maggie Cherry, of the patient advisory and liaison service at Salisbury District Hospital.

The Salisbury branch of the MS Society worked hard to raise awareness of the need for a specialist nurse.

Under the chairmanship of Maggie Cherry and Sally Bannister, joint commissioning and service development manager for the PCT, regular meetings have been held at the hospital attended by all concerned, at both the national and the local level, including representatives of the Bodysnatchers group and the Gillingham and Shaftesbury branch of the MS society.

John Nicholas, chief executive of south Wiltshire primary care trust, said: "This is an exciting opportunity to improve the care of patients with complex and long-term needs, in both hospital and the community."

The post-holder, who could be a nurse or a therapist, will work with patients who have MS to develop local services that respond to people's needs.

The post will be based in the PCT but will work closely with the hospital and with social services to provide education for staff about the needs of patients with MS and the skills to give the best and most co-ordinated ways of providing care for them.

The post will be funded initially by a partnership between the MS Society, the local MS group and the PCT, with the PCT taking over full funding of the post in three years' time, if the post achieves the aims agreed locally for it.