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ARMA Newsletter September 2022
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Thinking wider about workforce
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I saw a tweet this morning from a local provider partnership seeking exercise instructors willing to train in falls management. The challenge of workforce is ever present in the NHS right now. I think we need to think more creatively and use the breadth of the workforce we have if we are ever to deliver on our ambition to improve the MSK health of the population and ensure excellent services for those who need them.
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Community MSK is the backbone of MSK. Most people with an MSK condition will never need secondary care and most of those who do will also use community services.…
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Goodbye and good luck to Nita
Nita Parmar has led ARMA’s policy and communications work for over six years. It is Nita who has been responsible for compiling this newsletter. In addition to the newsletter Nita has chaired the regular policy and communications meetings and pulled together a consensus on a variety of policy positions from mental health to chronic pain. Nita put ARMA on the twitter map and grew our followers to over 6,500. She has developed and innovated our work on Bone and Joint Week, increasing our engagement and reach with each successive year.
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From ARMA, our members and our Board, thank you Nita for all you have done and good luck in your future. You will be missed.
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Could you be ARMA’s next Public Affairs and Communications Officer?
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Public Affairs & Communications Officer
Part time, 17.5 hours per week
£32,418 - £34,209 pro-rata + homeworking allowance.
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An opportunity to join a small charity which punches above its weight, influencing policy and care for lifelong musculoskeletal (MSK) health.
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The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) is looking for a highly motivated, excellent communicator who can support and deliver our strategic plan by leading on our public affairs and communication work. ARMA is a growing alliance with high levels of influence and engagement in key policy areas, such as the NHS England Best MSK Health Programme. Working alongside our experienced CEO, this is an excellent opportunity for the right candidate to gain valuable experience to further their career.
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This position is 17.5 hours per week and is home based.
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The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) exists to improve MSK services. We are a membership organisation which brings together patient charities, research and healthcare professional organisations working in musculoskeletal health. Working together as an alliance we have a powerful voice to influence policy and improve standards of care across the UK.
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You will be maintaining and developing communications with our members and key external stakeholders as well as supporting the CEO in public affairs and policy work. Your days will be interesting and varied, including chairing our regular policy and communications meetings, ensuring our website and newsletters are engaging and relevant, leading on communication through social media, and supporting ARMA events. The successful candidate will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, lots of drive and enthusiasm and a demonstrable ability to take responsibility for their own workload.
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Full job description, including the experience and skill set required. Please apply with a copy of your CV and a covering letter setting out how you meet the criteria in the person specification to sbrown@arma.uk.net by noon on Monday 10 October 2022.
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Bone and Joint Week – Let’s take action on #MSKEquality
What is Bone and Joint Week?
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Next month, it’s Bone and Joint Week, a collaborative campaign, aiming to help get people thinking about one of the most widespread and pressing health issues of our times – musculoskeletal health. This year the focus is on increasing health equality in musculoskeletal health.
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Increasing musculoskeletal health equality
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For some people in the UK there are still unfair and avoidable inequalities in their musculoskeletal health and in their access to and experiences of health services.
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We can drive change by listening to and focussing on the most excluded communities so that there is equity in access, experiences and outcomes. We can drive change by working together.
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During Bone and Joint Week we are encouraging you to:
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- Retweet our daily infographics
- Print and pose! Print out our support message and pose for a selfie and tweet!
- Download our page of recommendations for MSK equality.
- See our resources page on MSK health equality.
- See the MSK health equality case studies.
- See free learning resources.
You can find all of this information on our Bone and Joint Week page http://arma.uk.net/bonejointweek
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Everyone can get involved in Bone and Joint Week. It’s a social media-led campaign using #BoneJointWeek and #MSKEquality, so getting involved is easy, with daily infographics that can be retweeted.
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So add the date to your calendar, look out for our infographics and hashtags #BoneJointWeek and #MSKEquality on Twitter and visit arma.uk.net/bonejointweek
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MSK health inequalities resources
In common with other health conditions, there are significant health inequalities in MSK. Addressing this is one of ARMA’s priorities. There is a lot of information about health inequalities, but finding MSK specific information is harder.
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To help those with an interest in tackling MSK health inequalities, we have created a resource page to signpost to the most relevant and useful resources and information specifically about MSK health inequalities.
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The resource is not intended as an exhaustive list of research on MSK health inequalities. We have prioritised those which have a UK focus, which draw useful findings or are most likely to be of value to those trying to address health inequalities. We have included some resources related to pain since this is a very significant aspect of long term MSK conditions.
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Key MSK COVID-19 resources
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ARMA continues to keep its COVID-19 resources page up to date.
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Members' news
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New research call: Accelerating diagnosis
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Versus Arthritis wants to bring about more accurate and faster diagnosis and more timely, effective and targeted treatments, tailored to individuals, taking into consideration not just their genes but also the environment they live in. The Better Lives Today, Better Lives Tomorrow research strategy 2022-2026 focuses Versus Arthritis investment and influence on four priority areas over the next four years. …
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New research call: Fatigue in MSK conditions
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Versus Arthritis has partnered with the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research to increase the evidence around fatigue in musculoskeletal conditions. Versus Arthritis is seeking applications for a scoping review on ways to measure, assess and treat the chronic fatigue associated with musculoskeletal conditions. This can include: the amount of evidence in each area; the quality of evidence available; where there are …
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Versus Arthritis – New dates for MSK training
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The Versus Arthritis Core Skills training is aimed at GPs and other primary care professionals involved in diagnosing and supporting patients with MSK conditions. All courses are endorsed by the BSR:
'Core Skills in MSK care digital (RCGP accredited)'; 'MSK bitesize'; 'Is it inflammatory arthritis or fibromyalgia syndrome, or both?' and 'Managing chronic pain in primary care'…
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NRAS CEO on the Health Without Borders podcast
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Clare Jacklin, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society CEO, made an appearance on the Health Without Borders podcast this week speaking about RA to an international audience, predominantly in the US.
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In this episode, Clare touched on how the US is working to increase access to the new Evusheld scheme, how NRAS has grown to become the nation’s leading patient-led organisation focusing on RA, and much more.
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Listen to the podcast here.
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Rheumatoid Arthritis Mela event for the South Asian community
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Join NRAS on 13 October 2022, 9:30am-4:00pm, at Leicester Racecourse for the Rheumatoid Arthritis Mela event for the South Asian community.
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The event is open to anyone who has rheumatoid arthritis, as well as their family members, friends or carers. You’ll have an opportunity to talk to others with the condition, hear from our guest speakers and health professionals in attendance. Free lunch will be provided also.
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Facebook Live webinar on osteoporosis
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Last month, Sarah Leyland, osteoporosis specialist nurse and clinical adviser at Royal Osteoporosis Society, presented information on osteoporosis and fractures, and the link between corticosteroid use and having rheumatoid arthritis. You can watch a recording of the webinar on the NRAS Facebook page here.
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NRAS Champions’ Awards and Gala dinner
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NRAS will be holding their 21st Anniversary Gala Dinner and awards ceremony in Windsor at the Castle Hotel on 9 September 2022. This sold out event marks a significant milestone in the history of the charity. The night will be filled with music, food and dancing, featuring music from a live band:…
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NASS seeks partner to co-design integrated pilot
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NASS invites expressions of interest to co-design and test an Integrated Pilot as part of the implementation of our Gold Standard Time to Diagnosis for axial SpA.
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Do you want to be at the forefront of ending the delay to diagnosis in axial SpA?
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In June 2021, the National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) published a route map to achieve a Gold Standard Time to Diagnosis of one year through the Act on Axial SpA campaign.…
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Long COVID on the Airing Pain podcast
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In September, Pain Concern will be releasing one of their Airing Pain podcast episodes on the topic of long COVID.
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Specifically, the programme will cover the ways in which the treatment and management of long-term pain/conditions may be the key to treating cases of long COVID, as the conditions present quite similar symptoms and cause similar disruption to normal life.
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There are a number of episodes available to listen again, including the most recent from May, ‘When Children Have Arthritis’.…
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ARMA CEO in speaker line up for NOA Conference
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The National Orthopaedic Alliance (NOA) Annual Members' Conference takes place on 19 October 2022 from 9am - 5pm at The Eastside Rooms, Birmingham.
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Registration is now open and staff from NOA member organisations are invited to attend. ARMA CEO, Sue Brown, joins the line-up of speakers alongside Dr Chloe Stewart in a presentation focussed on 'The Value of Shared Decision Making'.
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PCRMM Annual Conference 2022 programme
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MSK Across Multi-Disciplinary First Contact Care
11 and 12 November 2022
ONLINE
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The Primary Care Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Medicine Society is delighted to announce this year’s conference. The success of past conferences engenders motivation for the Society to try and improve each year and offer more of what will educate, stimulate and benefit you all.…
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ARMA chronic pain resources
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Earlier this year, ARMA published a suite of chronic pain resources to address the 15.5 million people and 81% of people with a musculoskeletal condition reporting being in chronic pain. Chronic (persistent or long-lasting or recurrent) pain is life-changing and can affect all parts of life. Chronic pain is linked to deprivation and health inequalities. For these reasons, chronic pain is important to the ARMA alliance of members.
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ARMA members have collaborated to produce the resources available on our Pain and MSK page.
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ARMA Calendar
| 7 Sept 2022 |
Tripudio Movement, NRAS wellbeing course |
| 8 Sept 2022 |
Dance Movement, NRAS wellbeing course |
| 12–18 Sept 2022 |
NRAS RA Awareness Week |
| 23–25 Sept 2022 |
CCAA Family Residential Weekend, Peak District |
| 27 Sept 2022 |
AI in Orthopaedics conference (ORUK) |
| 28 Sept 2022, 1pm |
NASS Live: Sports and axial SpA with physiotherapist |
| 29 Sept 2022, 6-9pm |
Versus Arthritis MSK bitesize course |
| 5 Oct 2022 |
Meditation & Mindfulness, NRAS wellbeing course |
| 10 Oct 2022 |
Nutrition & Diet, NRAS wellbeing course |
| 10 Oct 2022, 12pm |
Applications close for ARMA Public Affairs & Comms Officer |
| 13 Oct 2022, 9:30am-4pm |
Rheumatoid Arthritis Mela event, Leicester |
| 19 Oct 2022 |
NOA Annual Members’ Conference, Birmingham |
| 20 Oct 2022, 6:30-8:30pm |
Is it inflammatory arthritis or fibromyalgia syndrome, or both? |
| 2 Nov 2022 6:30-8:30pm |
Core Skills in MSK care digital (4 weeks) course |
| 5–6 Nov 2022 |
BCA Conference 2022 |
| 7 Nov 2022 |
Versus Arthritis Fatigue evidence review application deadline |
| 9 Nov 2022 |
Versus Arthritis Priorites 2023 funding application deadline |
| 11–12 Nov 2022 |
PCRMM Annual Conference 2022 |
| 23–24 Nov 2022 |
Therapy Expo and MSK 2022 |
| 30 Nov 2022, 6:30-8:30pm |
Managing chronic pain in primary care course |
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We know that many people value our newsletter, webinars and the fact that we provide a voice for MSK health. We are increasingly asked: given that our membership is made up of organisations, how can an individual support ARMA? For this reason, we have set up a new supporter scheme.
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