Two things happened in July which will be significant for MSK services: the publication of the Prevention Green Paper Advancing Our Health, and the creation of over 1,200 Primary Care Networks (PCNs) across England. ARMA will be supporting members to engage with the Green Paper and to ensure PCNs deliver what is needed for MSK. We hope all our newsletter readers will get involved too.
I was pleased to see that Advancing Our Health gives plenty of profile to MSK. We’d like to see more focus on action and we’ll all be pushing for this in our responses. See the analysis of the content from an MSK perspective by our members in this month’s newsletter. It is a consultation document and anyone can respond online. I would encourage everyone to respond and encourage others to do the same. Government needs to hear that there is support for bold action to prioritise prevention and that the MSK sector is ready to collaborate to make a real difference.
Primary Care Networks were the subject of a presentation at our AGM this year. The Medical Director for Primary Care and Digital Transformation for London explained that GP practices will work collaboratively with each other and health, social care and voluntary partners to deliver services that can’t be delivered on a smaller scale. This animation explains how they are intended to work. PCNs will be important in providing MSK services, First Contact Practitioners and social prescribing. As with any collaboration, they will take time to establish and will take different forms in different areas. We heard worrying reports from members that PCNs weren’t giving it as much focus as is needed. Worrying given the profile for MSK in the Prevention Green Paper and in most CCGs priorities. We all need to work together to change that as the PCNs get established.
The AGM was also a chance to hear ARMA members views of what we should be doing. This year we have been working on some key priorities such as mental health, physical activity and what the NHS Long Term Plan means for MSK services. Members felt these are broadly the right priorities but that we should consider what we might be able to do about pain and about children and young people with MSK conditions.
Our webinar programme has taken a bit of break across the summer, but I’m pleased to say that we have two new webinars planned in September and available to book now. We also have plans for some exciting topics in October and November, so look out for those in future newsletters. Our webinars are a great way to learn from good practice and all the recordings are available to watch if you missed the live delivery.
We always like to hear from the commissioners, health care professionals, policy makers and others who make use of our information and materials. So if you love the newsletter, value our webinars or have thoughts on what we could do next to make a difference, do let us know by email or on twitter. The Green Paper and the PCNs give us opportunities which we must all engage with, because none of us can make the changes we need by ourselves.