After my seminar for major project ideas, I thought I had finalised the problem I was trying to solve. However, the more I researched, the more complex it became. So, instead of having a singular problem, I found myself with a number of them. As I work on my project, these will probably become more aligned and focused. But for now I am going to keep them all in mind.

Using my Figjam board, I worked through the sections for my pitch, which is where the majority of my research into the problem took place.

https://www.figma.com/board/NMqZgv0Pr2BktuXCDKTi4A/UXD-501?node-id=0-1&t=MYWkbeQKCinzSc8X-1

I found that in Northern Ireland, there was a real lack of support in certain area trusts. Also the severe lack of specialised nurses. There was a stark statistic that stood out to me, and it was that there are around 140 people living with MND at any one time in Northern Ireland. For this group, there is only two MND nurses. There has also been times where none have been available, due to illness and work leave. This is a clear, stark problem and took the top spot in the problems I found.

I looked at some case studies and found there is a lack of neurologists as well. This led to people who have just been diagnosed having very little support, and if they do, it is months later.

There is also no current care pathway in place for people with MND in Northern Ireland.

This information was part of a study carried out by Motor Neurone Disease Association NI.

A common theme I found was a feeling of isolation, fear, anxiety and lack of support. When such a massive diagnosis is given, support is needed to help reduce these feelings and management the huge life changes.

These feelings can be categorised into ‘emotional distress’, which is what forms the second problem.