Arthritis News & Musculoskeletal News from ARMA's Members

Helping people to escape the misery of chronic joint pain – A musculoskeletal network in action.

by Professor Michael Hurley, Clinical Director,
Musculoskeletal Programme, Health Innovation Network South London

Along with many others in the musculoskeletal community, I get a tired of hearing about other long term conditions which continuously feature in the headlines – both in national media and NHS policy. Poor old ‘common’ joint pain is neither sexy nor headline-grabbing, but we all know how much it impairs the quality of life – none more so than the people who suffer it.

In the musculoskeletal programme of the Health Innovation Network (South London’s Academic Health Science Network http://www.hin-southlondon.org/clinical-areas/musculoskeletal…

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Realising the Value of People and Communities

The “At the Heart of Health” report, from the Health Foundation and Nesta, explores the value of people and communities in healthcare, in the context of, and in support of the NHS Five Year Forward View vision.

Realising the Value of:

Peer support
Self-management education
Health coaching
Group activities to support health and wellbeing
Asset-based approaches in a health and wellbeing context

What are person-centred and community-centred approached for health and wellbeing?

How have these approaches developed?

Click to download and open the report document (PDF, 865kb), an overview of the evidence and benefits and their impact.

Guest Blog: MSK Clinical Network Project

by Sarah Marsh, National Policy Lead, Long Term Conditions, NHS England

As we begin the new financial year and our plans for the upcoming months become more structured, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share my thoughts on the challenges heading our way; as well as a chance to share our ideas and reinforce our bid for your support as we further the momentum of all the work streams, including the MSK Knowledge Network Programme.

My aim for this coming year is to continue to support our programme strategies whilst reinforcing the links established with other MSK work ongoing within NHS England and our partner organisations: Department of Health, Public Health England and Health Education England.…

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Guest Blog: Looking back to move forward

by Colin Beevor, Matron and Service Manager, Musculoskeletal OPD Services

They say “it’s good to talk” and after the inaugural ARMA Portsmouth Network Meeting, I would agree.

Although leading up to the event you are always worried that you will not get the numbers turning out – I’ll say here that planning was the key to success – I shouldn’t have worried. A small number of the ARMA Local network got behind the event, giving their support and assisting with the details.…

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Guest Blog: Implementing the national clinical audit recommendations

by Ali Rivett, Director of Clinical Affairs, BSR

The first annual report was published in January and revealed wide variation in care across England and Wales. This is consistent with how other national audits have reported in their first year and we expect to identify where improvements have been made following the analysis for the 2^nd cohort.

To date, we have disseminated the report to all participating trusts, health boards and commissioning groups and will be presenting further analysis at the BSR annual conference in April.…

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Preventing musculoskeletal disorders has wider impacts for public health

From the Public Health Matters blog, Public Health England
Kevin Fenton, 11 January 2016 — Health and Wellbeing

Life expectancy in England has risen by more than five years in the past two decades, yet for many people, a longer life will involve more years spent in ill-health.

Earlier this year, The Global Burden of Disease project – an international study ranking the diseases and risk factors that cause death and disability – highlighted the toll that musculoskeletal conditions are taking on people’s health.…

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Guest Blog: What a time to leave

by Sarah Wright, Policy and Public Affairs Officer, ARMA

Well, what a time to be leaving ARMA! We’re finally starting to get the recognition that MSK deserves and this Alliance of organisations is now recognised as the place to go to for solutions to the MSK problem. But let’s not open the champagne just yet, there is still a great deal of work to do and what a perfect time to hand over the ARMA baton to someone to take it to the next level.…

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Guest Blog: An Opportunity for Joint Action

by Professor Anthony Woolf, Chair of ARMA and Chair of the Bone and Joint Decade: A Global Alliance for Musculoskeletal Health

Musculoskeletal conditions continue to be the greatest cause of disability in the UK according to the Global Burden of Disease study [click for summary], accounting for 30%. Low back pain is the greatest specific cause of disability and osteoarthritis is increasing with ageing of the population and increasing obesity. We, the MSK community, have always known the impact these problems have on people and society but now policy makers cannot escape from the facts and have to come up with policies to prevent and manage them more effectively.…

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HSJ Investigation: ‘Unwarranted and unfair’ disparity in elective surgery revealed

Wide variations in elective surgery rates among the most affluent and deprived areas in England raise serious questions about the use of NHS resources, a leading public health expert has warned.

1 October, 2015 | By Lawrence Dunhill, Health Service Journal.

HSJ investigation finds huge disparities in rates for elective surgery in affluent and deprived populations
Experts warn the variance raises serious questions about use of NHS resources
Disparity in elective surgery commissioning

HSJ’s investigation, which examined the rates for elective surgery funded by the clinical commissioning groups covering the 10 most affluent and 10 most deprived populations in the country, has revealed huge disparities.…

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A world where people can live active lives, free from arthritis pain

by Dr Wendy Holden, Consultant Rheumatologist

Around one in seven people in the UK currently live with arthritis. This figure is expected to rise to one in four by 2030 ^[1]. It is the leading cause of pain and disability, costing the NHS a staggering £5 billion a year ^[2]. One in five of us consult their GP about a musculoskeletal problem like arthritis each year, that’s more than 100,000 consultations for arthritis every day ^[3].

Around 15,000 children and young people live with the condition ^[4].

…

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