Lived experience, equality and prevention

Whatever anyone may claim, the NHS has been, and still is, completely overwhelmed by the impact of Covid-19. Across the board MSK services are struggling. Meeting the targets of 90% elective procedures and 100% of outpatient appointments by October is not easy. Lots of things will be required – efficient pathways, appropriate use of digital, increases in support for self-management. Three things I feel must be included are lived experience, a focus on equality and prevention.

I’ve been privileged to be part of the Lived Experience Group which informs all aspects of NHS England work on MSK services post-Covid.…

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MSK leading the way

by Sue Brown, CEO, ARMA

It’s been fantastic over the last few months to work with ARMA members to rise to the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic. We now have to rise to a new challenge – resetting MSK services to be more personalised and to use shared decision making to ensure people receive the right treatment efficiently and effectively. ARMA’s vision for MSK and that discussed at the NHS England MSK leadership meetings are remarkably similar. Making that vision a reality will take the combined effort of all of us.…

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If it doesn’t work for patients it doesn’t work

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Covid-19 has brought out some amazing collaboration in MSK. Different parts of the system have been affected in different ways – the issues restarting surgery are enormous, there is a back log of people who need to see a rheumatologist, large numbers of staff from community services redeployed into covid wards and are now returning to their previous roles.

In the middle of all this have been patients, struggling to navigate a system in chaos. Unable to get treatment, planned surgery delayed, people in pain wondering when they might be seen.…

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Challenges and collaboration – progress for MSK in 2020

Alongside the pain and misery of the Covid-19 pandemic there have also been some beneficial side effects – quiet streets and skies, birdsong, less pollution. This is also true in the world of MSK. ARMA has been a champion for the NHS Change Challenge, a project to identify the new and innovative ways of working that have been rapidly developed across the NHS and to ensure beneficial changes are captured and locked in. I think it is no accident that NHS Improvement chose to pilot this in MSK.…

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CEO update – Working together

When people are scared they do one of two things – reach out for support and support others, or look after number one. We’ve seen lots of examples of both recently. ARMA members have chosen the first approach. They’ve been sharing information, working together to solve some common problems such as how to advise healthcare professionals working in private practice.

I take my hat off to our patient members organisations who have faced a huge increase in calls to helplines. As NHS services feel the pressure it is getting hard for them to provide their usual advice and people are turning to patient organisations for support.…

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Postcode lotteries and transformations

by Sue Brown, ARMA CEO

February has been a month of mixed feelings for me. On the downside I continue to hear of rationing of NHS services by CCGs going against NICE guidelines. More positively I’ve been hearing about some ambitious work to transform MSK services around the country. We need some of this bold thinking if we are going to achieve ARMA’s goal of high quality, appropriate MSK services for everyone who needs them.

This month I spoke to someone in a hospital about hip and knee replacement.…

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2020 brings Positivity, Optimism and Teamwork

I’ve read a few things about how hard it is to get going after the festive break, or “blue Monday” part way through January, rumoured to be the most depressing day of the year. I’ve had a very different experience this year with a positive start to 2020. January has involved conversations and planning for our 2020 activities. Lots of positivity from members and stakeholders means I’m optimistic and looking forward to a successful year.

One of the things our members want to focus on is multidisciplinary working – how different MSK professionals can work better together, with each other and with patients.…

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MSK health is as important as heart health

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Happy New Year to all our readers. The start of the new year is a time to reflect on our successes in 2019 and to look forward to what can be done in 2020.

Some of my highlights from 2019 were the annual lecture on mental health and MSK, our roundtables on pain and on mental health and our webinars. The webinars have been very popular with thousands of people watching them live or in recording.…

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MSK health – not just doctors and nurses

CEO update by Sue Brown, ARMA

The general election is now in full swing. In amongst the Brexit debate, the NHS has been getting quite a bit of attention, albeit somewhat narrow in focus. I hope that after the election, whoever is in government, this debate will widen so that we can talk about health, not just the NHS, about more than hospitals, doctors and nurses.

One other thing an election brings is restrictions on what government bodies are allowed to do.…

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MSK health: Not just for Bone and Joint Week

Bone and Joint Week is over for another year, and what a fantastic week it was, thanks to the support of our members and key stakeholders. It’s a one week blitz of MSK messaging on social media, raising awareness and prompting action. This year we had an even bigger reach than ever. But it doesn’t end there.

We need to keep raising the profile of MSK for the other 51 weeks of the year. During the week there were ARMA blogs on the NHS England and NHS Confederation websites explaining the importance of MSK health to the NHS.…

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