Arthritis News & Musculoskeletal News from ARMA's Members

Major conditions strategy: parity for MSK?

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Last month the Government announced a new major conditions strategy. In the past ARMA’s response to such an announcement would be “what about MSK? That’s a major condition contributing hugely to the burden of disease in England.” Not this time.

I will admit to being surprised to read the list of six conditions included and find musculoskeletal disorders was one of them. Pleasantly surprised. Finally, in this one document at least, MSK seems to have parity with other conditions.…

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NOA Annual Conference – Save the Date

The NOA is excited to announce their third NOA Annual Members’ Conference taking place in Birmingham on Thursday 19 October 2023. Further information including registration details will be shared in due course.

This will be an impactful learning and networking opportunity for the orthopaedic community. The day will address issues affecting orthopaedics and MSK, giving members an insight into national solutions and initiatives as well as opportunities to collaborate and share best practice. Read about last year’s event on the NOA website.

NRAS looks back at 2022

With the year now in full flow, NRAS has been looking back at some of their achievements across 2022.

As a way of sending thanks to their supporters, the Society has made a video of significant moments across the last year. Its features include NRAS attending the BSR Conference in April, to the anniversary celebrations at their Gala Dinner in September.

Watch the video here.

Ailsa Bosworth’s presentation at Royal Society of Medicine

NRAS founder and National Patient Champion, Ailsa Bosworth presented at the Royal Society of Medicine on the services that NRAS offer and the impacts of the Society’s work within the RA community.

Ailsa’s presentation included:

NRAS services to support HCPs;
New2RA Right Start;
SMILE RA;
Facebook Lives;
Apni Jung resources;
and other NRAS services, ending with a Q&A.

Watch the video of Ailsa’s presentation here.

Pain consultations during the pandemic

Pain Concern is pleased to announce that the new edition of the Airing Pain podcast will be released on 22/02/2023:

Airing Pain #134 Pain Consultations during the COVID-19 Pandemic – Lessons Learnt.

Watch the trailer.

This edition of Airing Pain examines how COVID-19 has impacted on the relationship between patient and healthcare professional.

In the two or so years of living with COVID-19, the face-to-face relationship between doctors and patients was one of the first casualties. With restrictions relaxed, have we returned to the status quo, or has what was developed at breakneck speed led to new working practices? …

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PCRMM webinar: Gout best practice

“Gout diagnosis, treatment and management: an update on best practice in primary care”
PCRMM Webinar
Monday 27 February, 2023
7 – 8.30pm

In many cases, gout diagnosis is simple and treatment is cheap and effective with the potential for significant improvement in patients’ quality of life. NICE recently published their first gout guidelines highlighting the poor treatment of Gout in the UK. The webinar will discuss causes, best practice for diagnosis, treatment and management including the role of treat-to-target and the importance of educating both patients and healthcare professionals about gout.…

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PCRMM MSK Diploma Revision course

After its success last year, the Primary Care Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Medicine Society will be holding another revision course for the Diploma in Musculoskeletal Medicine.

The course will consist of two live study days, delivered online to maximise accessibility. They will be made up of presentations, talks and various relevant materials including case studies and MCQs. Also, at the live events, there will be Q&A sessions held after each talk with an interactive forum so you can ask questions and be involved in discussion.…

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Trailblazing MSK pilot expanding to 100 leisure centres

ukactive’s pilot to transform leisure centres, swimming pools, and gyms into musculoskeletal (MSK) health hubs has been expanded to 100 sites across the UK, as the sector grows its services for the community.

The programme behind the pilot has been designed and provided in collaboration between Good Boost, ukactive, Orthopaedic Research UK, ESCAPE-pain, and Arthritis Action – demonstrating how the fitness and leisure sector can work together to reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Read the full press release.

ESCAPE-pain part of framework to reduce community MSK waits

In January 2023, NHS England published “an improvement framework to reduce community musculoskeletal waits while delivering best outcomes and experience”.

Integrated high quality community musculoskeletal (MSK) services are integral to a productive, high-performing healthcare system supporting the management of MSK conditions. Most people with MSK conditions can be diagnosed and well managed in the community through programmes like ESCAPE-pain.

A smaller number require timely referral to secondary care orthopaedic, rheumatology, spinal or pain management services to enable best outcomes.

Most community MSK services have a triage function to support diagnosis and optimise referrals, and/or a therapies function to rehabilitate those who have sustained an injury or are recovering from surgery, as well as to help people best manage long-term MSK conditions.…

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Research funding awarded by Nuffield Foundation and Versus Arthritis

£1.94 million has been awarded by the Nuffield Foundation’s Oliver Bird Fund and Versus Arthritis to support research to improve wellbeing among people living with MSK conditions. Awards have been made to six teams across five universities.

The projects focus on recommendations for policy and practice for improving duration and quality of working lives; developing materials to support education and career pathways for young people with juvenile onset conditions; assessing the benefits of social prescribing; and evaluation of a peer mentoring programme for people experiencing economic disadvantage.…

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