At the end of January, I had the pleasure of experiencing an ARMA lecture for the first time. The lecture itself was excellent. No surprises there as it was delivered by Dame Carol Black speaking on musculoskeletal conditions, disability and employment. If you missed it, you can see the slides and video on the ARMA website. Twitter discussion using #MSKatwork continued into the following days. Between this and the follow-up articles on the talk (such as this one by the CSP), the audience for our message was huge. Thanks to Arthritis Action for supporting a fantastic evening.
What can’t be shared online is the amazing atmosphere at the drinks reception. We had a diverse audience of ARMA members and key stakeholders: policy makers, NHS England, Public Health England, voluntary organisations, clinicians and commissioners. Discussion was lively and animated. Many people meeting each other for the first time, realising they had common ground and could work together. I overheard plans to work on joint projects and I have no doubt that some exciting work will result. I’m looking forward to future ARMA webinars on initiatives whose seeds were sown that evening.
You can see a gallery of photos from the event here, as part of the lecture page.
This is ARMA at its best – bringing together a diverse range of people and finding the common ground. It’s at the heart of what we do, and a key part of our plans for 2018.
Our new knowledge hub will be launched soon and include an on-line forum allowing collaboration between different stakeholders. Look out for news on how you can use this. Our STP networks project is about to begin and will connect people at a local level to enable local collaboration and improvement. Let us know if you would like to get involved.
Whether locally, online or at an event like the ARMA lecture, it’s when people with a different take on the same issue get together that magic happens.