by Andrew Bennett, National Clinical Director for Musculoskeletal Conditions NHS England and NHS Improvement
It’s been a year since I was fortunate to attend the annual ARMA lecture at the canal museum in London and enjoyed a fantastic talk by Brendan Stubbs about physical activity and mental health. New to the role of National Clinical Director for MSK, this was the first time I met Sue Brown the CEO of ARMA, as well as number of other colleagues from the MSK world. Little did we all know at that time about what lay ahead, and the close working relationships we would develop.
What followed has been a rollercoaster of a year. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted us all both professionally and personally, and as an MSK community we must all take pride in our collective response. Professionally we have rapidly adapted our provision, worked out of our comfort zones, and dealt with a wide range of significant challenges. We have had to balance increased workplace stresses with the personal impact of the pandemic. We have to juggle social distancing, home schooling and managing our own physical and mental health.
These professional and personal challenges continue to evolve, both in the context of the Covid second wave and the need to restore service provision. We are working hard to get primary community and secondary care back on track, in collaboration with our colleagues across mental health, social services and the third sector. We are balancing this challenge with need to cope with the second wave of the pandemic. A challenge further complicated by the impact of social isolation, delays in planned care and the potential impact of post-Covid symptoms on MSK health. The impact of Covid-19 has been massive and whilst we need to continue to rapidly adapt to meet these daunting challenges ahead, we also need to continue to look after our own wellbeing, and it is timely to reflect on Brendan’s message regarding the importance of physical activity to maintain our own mental health as well as that of our patients.
I am ever an optimist, and out of this massive challenge comes opportunity. Adaptive innovations in care have been rapidly implemented, particularly with regard to virtual provision. We have looked to capture examples of such innovations and share the principles underpinning these new ways of working though our #NHSChangeChallenge project. The objective is to help support local leads to make best use of resources to be as productive as possible. This all needs to continue to be focused around a collective vision of enabling lifelong best MSK health across all communities, and delivering evidence-informed, personalised high quality care of value for all. Moreover, quoting Sue’s excellent recent blog, ‘if it doesn’t work for patients then it doesn’t work’, I believe key to achieving this vision and aim in this challenging time is collaborating with those with lived experience to co-produce our strategy moving forward.
So as our rollercoaster ride continues, I would like to thank the MSK community for your support and efforts both over the last year and moving forward, with confidence that together we can rise to the challenges ahead and build on our innovations to inform future service transformation to support best MSK health.
Twitter @andypbennett79