In the run up to the publication of the Government’s Green Paper on prevention, the IPPR has published a report Ending the blame game: The case for a new approach to public health and prevention. The UK has made significant progress on prevention in the past, IPPR says, but we appear to have ‘hit a wall’ with limited progress since 2010. They call for the government’s prevention green paper to deliver a paradigm shift in policy from interventions that ‘blame and punish’ to those that ‘empathise and assist’.…
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MSK & Arthritis News
NHS People Plan
One major criticism of the NHS Long Term Plan was the lack of any detail on workforce. This detail has begun to emerge with the publication of the Interim People Plan for the NHS. It looks at the need to transform the way the entire workforce, including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals (AHPs), pharmacists, healthcare scientists, dentists, non-clinical professions, social workers in the NHS, commissioners, non-executives and volunteers, work together. It works on the basis that multi-professional clinical teams will be the foundation of the future workforce, rather than treating the workforce as a group of separate professions.…
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PHE framework for MSK prevention published
Public Health England has published two documents related to MSK prevention. The first is a whole-system strategic framework for prevention of musculoskeletal conditions across the life-course. The purpose is to provide stakeholders and system collaborators with a clear statement of PHE, NHS England and Versus Arthritis’ commitments to promote MSK health and to prevent MSK conditions. Each collaborating organisation, including ARMA, has identified what they will be contributing, and in some cases, leading on.
The document contains information about a range of MSK prevention activities and links to resources and tools to help prevention activity.…
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A new trend in elective hip surgery?
The ARMA Alliance with Versus Arthritis and the British Orthopaedic Association voiced its concerns previously about rationing of joint replacement surgery for people with MSK conditions. ARMA published a position paper on this in 2017.
So what does the latest data tell us about hip surgery? In June, Deborah Ward and Lillie Wenzel from the policy team at The King’s Fund published a blog post: ‘A new trend in elective hip surgery’. They examine the trend in hip replacements, health gain and health gain reported by patients and interpret these trends.…
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NICE Physical activity
NICE published its quality standard NICE Physical activity: encouraging activity in the community on the NICE website in June.
The NICE quality standards team have prepared a summary of the consultation report and the full set of consultation comments on its website.
Versus Arthritis Core Skills Workshops
Please find below upcoming dates for the Versus Arthritis Core Skills in MSK workshops.
These 1-day practical workshops provide a supportive environment for GPs and other frontline healthcare professionals to develop their confidence and skills in the diagnosis, treatment options and self-management of patients with MSK conditions.
- Birmingham – 10 July
- London – 25 September
- Leeds – 23 October
- London – 26 November
- Glasgow – 10 December
Click here to book your place on any of the above workshops.
Watch a video of the workshop in action.
Primary Care Rheumatology Society has a new name
The PCRS is delighted to announce that, with immediate effect, the society’s name will change to the PRIMARY CARE RHEUMATOLOGY AND MUSCULOSKELETAL MEDICINE SOCIETY.
The name change is to more clearly represent who and what the organisation has become. The aims of the Society remain unchanged, with the main focus being education within primary care to increase the knowledge and understanding of rheumatological and general musculoskeletal issues, thereby improving management and patient outcomes.
Aspiring to Excellence programme – closing date approaching for applications
The application window for the Aspiring to Excellence award programme is nearing its end, with a deadline of 31 July. The programme is a strategic partnership between NASS, BRITSpA and sponsoring companies AbbVie, Novartis and UCB, designed to encourage and recognise service improvement in axial SpA (AS) care.
Visit the NASS website for details on how to apply. For further information please contact annamcgilvray@nass.co.uk.
The ESCAPE-pain programme in practice
Case study of improved mobility and independence
Listen to Regina’s story of how she overcame osteoarthritis and difficulties with mobility with the help of the ESCAPE-pain group at her local leisure centre.
The ESCAPE-pain Programme: Helping people with chronic joint paint to self-manage their condition and become more physically active
At 76 years old, Regina had been suffering with osteoarthritis for over ten years and it was having a big impact on her life physically and emotionally. “I was in a bad place; I was in a wheelchair to start with.”…
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CEO update: Patients with chronic pain deserve nothing less
by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA
I write this reflecting on my day yesterday, which was unexpectedly dominated by discussions on pain. Pain is, of course, something we all talk about a fair bit in the MSK health world, as it’s one of the shared factors that cuts across all MSK conditions. I’m increasingly realising it is something we don’t always deal with particularly well.
My day yesterday began with reading New Scientist on the train, including an article about UK doctors’ concerns that we will follow the US into an opioid crisis.…
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