MSK & Arthritis News

Vitamin D and Calcium webinar

Vitamin D and Calcium – an overview with a focus on bone health
PCRMM webinar, Tuesday 1 March 2022, 7 – 8.30pm

This webinar about calcium and vitamin D will cover: indications for testing; interpretation and significance of abnormal results; calcium and vitamin D replacement; and, a brief overview of the evidence and clinical need for calcium and vitamin D replacement in the context of musculoskeletal disease.

This extremely interesting and topical webinar will be run by Dr Zoe Paskins and Dr Sarah Hardcastle.…

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NOA Annual Members’ Conference 2022 – call for speakers

The second National Orthopaedic Alliance (NOA) Annual Members’ Conference will take place in Birmingham on Wednesday 19 October 2022 and the NOA is now accepting submissions for speakers. Do you have a project, best practice or opportunity you would like to share with NOA members on the day? To put forward a speaker email info.noa@nhs.net by 1 March 2022. Find out more on the NOA website. 

Guest blog: Working in partnership to reduce inequalities in MSK health

by Adanna Williams, BestMSK Health Collaborative, Deputy Director

This week many of us are returning to work or starting our first week of 2022 having had a difficult Christmas period supporting and delivering services. I am mindful that the impact of focusing efforts to combat the Omicron variant has the potential to widen health inequalities. I have acknowledged how challenging this can be for those who need to access our services and those who are awaiting interventions.

In the BestMSK Healthcare Collaborative programme (an NHS England and Improvement programme), equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) continues to be a key priority.…

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COVID-19 update video – Hope on the horizon

Hope on the horizon for immuno-suppressed/compromised individuals

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, in partnership with ARMA, delivered a Facebook live session on vaccination and new COVID-19 treatments aimed at anyone who is immunosuppressed.

Watch the recording to learn about a new scheme to rapidly get treatments to those who are immunocompromised and a trial of treatments for those over 50 or with certain risk factors.

 

On the precipice

We all look forward to 2022 with some trepidation. We don’t know how much impact Omicron will have on the NHS, the population, and our own families. 2021 was a year of challenge and also of incredible achievements. A vaccination programme which has now provided all adults with the opportunity for three doses, four in some cases; which has delivered boosters to three quarters of the eligible population; which delivered 1.6 million boosters in the final week of the year. None of this just happened.…

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Psoriatic Arthritis PSP infographic

Final update on the James Lind Alliance Psoriatic Arthritis Priority Setting Partnership

During the last two years the researchers running the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership have explored unmet needs in psoriatic arthritis, determining what is important for people living with psoriatic arthritis, their families and carers, and the healthcare professionals treating them. The project is now complete.

The results from this project will be used to guide future research. This infographic [opens in PDF] summarizes the project and its findings.…

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BMP Grant 2021-2022 is now open for applications

The application period for the third edition of the Brain Mind Pain Grant (2021-2022) started on 30 November 2021 and runs until the end of March 2022.

The BMP Grant aims to support projects that will help improve the quality of life of people living with brain, mind, and pain conditions. The theme of the third edition of the BMP Grant is prevention and self-management. It has been decided to narrow the focus to ‘Healthy Sleep for People Living with Brain, Mind and Pain Conditions’.…

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Psychosocial factors and workplace MSK report

Psychosocial risks and work-related musculoskeletal disorders: exploring the links and prevention strategies

A new report explores the connections between psychosocial factors and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the workplace using data from the latest European Working Conditions Survey and European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks.

It finds that some psychosocial factors — such as working time, job security and support from management — have more of an impact on MSDs than factors related to socio-demographics, country or economic sector.…

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ARMA welcomes new associate member

ARMA is pleased to welcome new associate member AbbVie to its membership.

AbbVie is a research-based biopharmaceutical company discovering and delivering transformational medicines and products in several key therapeutic areas such as immunology. AbbVie invests in research to discover, develop and deliver new medicines. They target diseases with significant unmet need where we can improve the standard of care with innovative new therapies. They aim to create solutions that go beyond treating the illness to have a positive impact on patients’ lives, on societies—and on science itself.…

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Orthopaedic recruitment during COVID

NOA Webinar: COVID Orthopaedic Recovery: National and International recruitment

16 February 2022 at 1pm

The first National Orthopaedic Alliance webinar for 2022 will look at national and international recruitment.

Probably the biggest issue impeding orthopaedic surgery recovery is staffing. Many members of staff have left the NHS, retired early or have long term medical and/or mental health issues that limit their ability to work.

This has resulted in staffing shortages across various orthopaedic services in particular, theatre staffing. Providers are desperate to retain staff but also want to recruit the best people for the job which sometimes means looking overseas.…

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