Rheumatology PIFU guidance

The updated rheumatology PIFU (Patient Initiated Follow-Up) guidance is now on NHS England and NHS Improvement’s FutureNHS platform. The document is aimed at clinicians, service managers and commissioners the guidance supports the appropriate, safe, and sustainable implementation and delivery of PIFU for people with rheumatological conditions who are under the care of adult rheumatology services. 

See it on the FutureNHS platform (account required).

The guidance can be viewed in “draft” form at this link, once signed off, it will be published on the NHSE website.…

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APPG for Osteoporosis and Bone Health Inquiry Report

osteoporosis reportThe All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Osteoporosis and Bone Health published a report into the long-standing postcode lottery in the NHS for osteoporosis care. The report highlights the scale of under-diagnosis, under-treatment and missed opportunities in the NHS, with a blueprint for change. Implementation of the blueprint in England and Wales could save the NHS around £287m over five years – a return on investment of around 3:1 – according to the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), which has supported the Inquiry.…

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National Voices Timely Access to Care

A new publication from National Voices Timely access to care: Principles for recovery argues for an inclusive, equitable and person-centred recovery, focusing on the whole person, in the context of their lives, and the whole system, and the context within which it is operating. There are three sets of recommendations: one for government and system leaders, one for people planning and delivering services and one for the VCSE.

Access the document here.

Building back inclusively

NHS reportThe NHS Confederation has published a briefing on Building back inclusively: Radical approaches to tackling the elective backlog.

There is evidence suggesting that waiting lists have grown more rapidly in more deprived areas during the pandemic. There are good reasons to believe that the current approach to elective care, whereby patients are treated in the order they present for care, exacerbates inequalities and worsens health outcomes. The briefing sets out a package of measures, including the politically uncomfortable step of proactively growing the waiting list to address this.…

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Impacts of COVID-19 on deconditioning and falls

Public Health England has published a report on the wider impacts of COVID-19 on physical activity, deconditioning and falls in older adults. The study modelled the likely effect of the decrease in strength and balance activity observed during the pandemic on people who experience a fall, the number of falls and associated health and social care costs.

Key findings

Some of the key findings were:

  • 32% of older people were inactive between March to May 2020. This has increased from 27% in the corresponding period in 2019;
  • average duration of strength and balance activity decreased from 126 to 77 minutes per week, with the greatest change in the 70 to 74 age group;
  • without mitigation, modelling predicts that 110,000 more older people (an increase of 3.9%) are projected to have at least one fall per year as a result of reduced strength and balance activity during the pandemic.


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COVID-19: Life on hold for NHS patients needing musculoskeletal care

In June 2021 the British Medical Journal online featured an article ‘COVID-19: “Life on hold” for NHS patients needing musculoskeletal care’.  The article reported on the effect on the pandemic on people needing musculoskeletal NHS services, tackling NHS backlogs resulting from cancelled primary and secondary care appointments, and the BestMSK Health NHSE programme.

Read the article in full.

Have your say on the Musculoskeletal Advanced Practice and Governance Framework

Advanced Musculoskeletal (MSK) practice has been developing for many years, playing an integral part within the delivery of health services nationally. MSK practitioners work in diverse settings including emergency, rheumatology, persistent pain, paediatric and therapies, as well as in primary and community care and in MSK secondary care interface services.

Skills for Health is inviting feedback on a new core capability framework for MSK Advanced Practice and Governance. They are keen to hear from Advanced Practitioners, Advanced Practitioners in training, the wider healthcare team, employers, training providers, patients and carers to ensure the framework reflects what is needed in the sector.…

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ROS, bone health parliamentary group & FLS

Royal Osteoporosis Society supports APPG on Osteoporosis and Bone Health inquiry into Fracture Liaison Service provision

The Royal Osteoporosis Society provides the secretariat to the recently established All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Osteoporosis and Bone Health. The APPG was launched in March 2021 and its first act was to open an inquiry into the postcode lottery for access to Fracture Liaison Services (FLS).

The inquiry is currently well underway. Written evidence submissions were invited throughout June, and two successful oral evidence sessions took place in July.…

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NASS launches campaign to achieve Gold Standard Time to Diagnosis for Axial SpA

On 22 June 2021, the National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) launched the Act on Axial SpA campaign.

It currently takes an average of 8.5 years to diagnose axial SpA. This is too long, and NASS aims to drive this down this down by introducing the world’s first Gold Standard Time to Diagnosis of just one year.

Axial spondyloarthritis is an inflammatory disease of the spine and joints. Inflammation where muscles attach to the bones, causes extreme pain. If left untreated, it can permanently fuse bones together.…

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