Two weeks into my role and I am delighted to be CEO of ARMA. I am a passionate believer in the power of alliances. Time and again I have seen the impact we can have when a sector speaks with one voice. In my last role I was vice chair of the Care and Support Alliance (CSA): 80 organisations representing older people, disabled people and carers. By working together the CSA had a big impact on the Care Act, the key piece of legislation covering social care. Member organisations were able to get their priorities heard when they joined with others to amplify the message.
ARMA has some fantastic work in progress. Our partnership with NHS England will be delivering some great projects in the next few weeks. In March we have regional MSK events in London, Birmingham and Leeds, with more to come. You should all have information about how your members can sign up to these – please encourage them to take part. Bringing together all the key local players in MSK, the events are designed to encourage people to take action together to help transform MSK care outcomes and quality of care.
The webinars have a growing attendance and are an excellent way to disseminate good practice and knowledge. The next one is a Getting it Right First Time Masterclass on 10th March. If you’ve not already signed up, all the details are on the webinar page of the ARMA website. Please let us know if there are other topics you think we should cover.
An alliance is the sum of its members. With that in mind I aim to meet all our members in my first six weeks to find out more about your priorities and how you think ARMA can best achieve maximum impact. If I’ve not met you yet, I look forward to it, and thank you to everyone who has made me feel so welcome in my first few days. I am really excited to see what we can achieve together.