Consulting on the cobbles

An ‘outstanding’ level of commitment in County Durham to the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) community resulted in two of our Occupational Therapists helping to develop a recent storyline in top soap Coronation Street.

As those who watch ‘Corrie’ will know, ITV have recently been running a storyline about one of the characters in the show Paul Forman being diagnosed and living with MND. Many will have seen the emotionally charged conclusion which aired a few days ago.

What most viewers won’t be aware of is the behind the scenes involvement in the storyline of two County Durham OTs!

From the early stages of developing the storyline for a character the Coronation Street production team have sought to ‘get it right’. They called on the expertise within the MND Association – and their network of committed health and social care professionals – to make sure the details of every scene were realistic and recognisable to someone with lived MND experience.

It was during this process that the MNDA approached Helen Norton (picture on the left) and Kristi Wintringham (pictured on the right) , both OTs with Durham County Council, for their clinical advice around some of the issues they were trying to address.

“Helen and I have regular contact with the MND Association dating back a couple of years,” explains Kristi. “With their support we carried out an audit of the OT interventions with MND service users in County Durham.  As a result of this work, we developed some best practice guidelines for OT staff to follow. The MND Association were excited about this as we were the only Council nationwide at the time (possibly still are!) who had participated in the audit.”

Script rewrites

Neither Kristi nor Helen are “Corrie” fans, so were not familiar with the characters. However, they were able to give advice on issues around stairlift use and the OT role when working with service users who have MND. 

Some of their questions included “Can adaptations be made to a stairlift to accommodate a person’s postural changes?” and “Can someone without use of their hands operate a stairlift?”, “Is it plausible that the OT calls the patient to confirm an appointment for the next day?”, “Is it ok that the OT asks Paul and Billy to observe how he would use the stairlift?”, “Can Paul nod, smile or laugh?”, “Is it plausible that the OT would use an iPad during their visit?”.

“We also were asked to look through some scripts of the scenes where the OT was visiting Paul in his flat,” added Kristi.  “We were asked for feedback on whether we thought the dialogue was ok and represented a typical conversation. This involved giving constructive criticism about some of their ideas and even re-writing parts!”

Huge thanks

Sal Hastings, Community of Practice Lead for the MNDA told us: “We first came to meet Helen and Kristi when we set up a local ‘special interest group’ for health and social care professionals across the North East working with people living with and affected by MND.  From this, their OT service undertook the Transforming MND Care Audit in May 2022.  This audit is based on the best practice guidelines produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). 

“Completion of the audit, the subsequent work to develop and roll out best practice guidelines for Durham County Council’s OT services (and an ongoing commitment to work with the MND Association to maintain and build on high standards of practice) indicate a level of commitment to the MND community which is outstanding.

“The storyline around the character’s use of a stairlift – appropriate at first but then unsafe - was such a good demonstration of the role of the OT service in providing solutions which can restore independence, freedom and safety for people with MND.”

“I would like to pass on huge thanks from all at the MND Association and the Coronation Street team to Helen and Kristi for their support and expert input into the story throughout 2024.”

Kristi added: “It was a privilege to have been asked to assist ITV in this way; and we wanted to make sure our OT profession was represented in a positive light…hopefully we helped that to happen!”

Advice and support

To request an OT assessment, either for yourself or someone you care for, contact Social Care Direct on 03000 267979. 

Advice is also available on from equipmentadvice@durham.gov.uk  including self purchasing your own equipment should this be preferred.

There’s more detail about the support offered by the Motor Neurone Disease Association on their website.