A man suffering from a life-threatening disease expressed his delight after confirming a meeting with Health Secretary Alex Neil.
The Courier revealed last month that Arbroath dad of two Keith Swankie, who suffers from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), had received notification from Mr Neil that a meeting was on the cards to discuss Keith’s condition.
Mr Swankie had launched a Twitter campaign to attract the MSP’s attention in a bid to raise awareness and improve diagnosis and treatment of the disease in Scotland.
After being contacted by The Courier, Mr Neil’s office spoke to Mr Swankie and his family and a meeting has been confirmed for April 28 at his home.
Mr Swankie said: “I would like to thank The Courier and the others who have grasped the story and been working behind the scenes and at times working on the meeting.
“I would like to thank Jenny Marra and her team for their continued support too and obviously a big thanks to Mr Neil and his team who have made time to meet and considered the venue to save me traveling I really thank them for taking that into account.
“Also I’d like to personally thank all my friends, supporters and followers on Twitter who have actively been involved in trying to push this forward.
“I have managed to get NHS England on board and get research done by a top neurosurgeon, which is fantastic.”
PSP affects an estimated 10,000 in the UK and has only one dedicated charity working to raise awareness of the disease the PSP Association.
Mr Swankie said: “The key the points I wish to discuss with Mr Neil are earlier diagnosis for suffers and ask him to look at introducing a pathway to help from the PSP Association for health and social care.
“Improving awareness in those areas is key.”
Fergus Logan, chief executive of the PSP Association, said: “The amount of awareness that is now being raised by our members, volunteers and supporters across the country is fantastic.
“Raising awareness among MPs and MSPs is particularly beneficial as they are the people in power who really can make a difference to the services and the access to those services that people with PSP and CBD receive.
“We are very grateful to Keith for all his hard work. These are amazing achievements in a very short space of time.”