Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance
Influencing policy and care together for best lifelong musculoskeletal health
ARMA is pleased to welcome another new member, the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine (BASEM). BASEM is a multidisciplinary sport and exercise medicine membership organisation with a core responsibility to provide education and support to its members. BASEM supports the benefits of physical activity in all populations, without discrimination and the importance it plays in health and well-being and its role in both primary and secondary prevention of disease.
On 30 September the Guardian published a pull-out on ‘Arthritis and You’, featuring a number of ARMA members and important topics, including: living with arthritis, why pain is important, why speed is of the essence for inflammatory arthritis diagnosis, how children get arthritis too, what you can do while waiting for joint replacement surgery, and an appeal that rheumatoid arthritis patients must not be left to struggle alone.
See the Health Awareness articles in full here, in particular, ‘Why Pain is Important‘ by Sue Brown, ARMA CEO.
The 2020 Backcare Awareness Week runs from 5-9 October.
The theme for this year’s campaign is Back Pain in Nursing.
The campaign will, with the assistance of BackCare‘s flagship publication Handling of People (HOP6), prevent significant back injuries in the Nursing profession. Many nurses will benefit from training which is provided by the National Back Exchange organisation.
Display packs are now available to order from the BackCare webshop. The pack contents include:
Visit the Backcare Awareness Week page on the BackCare website for updates.
With cases of Covid-19 rising and the prospect of increased pressure on hospitals this winter as a result, it will be unacceptable for the NHS to respond to this by treating only urgent and emergency cases in musculoskeletal (MSK) services.
As organisations representing patients and professionals, we recognise that this was a necessary response in spring of this year. However, it came at significant cost to patients’ physical and mental health, and the resulting suffering will continue for many months, perhaps years, to come.…
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by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA
As I write this, the news is of rising cases of Covid-19, rising hospital admissions and local lockdowns. All our readers will be concerned about what this might mean for NHS services. The prospect of going through all that again is frightening. One thing ARMA members, professional and patient organisations alike, are saying is that for good musculoskeletal health, now more than ever, MSK services matter.
We are not in the same place as we were in March and we cannot respond in the same way.…
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By Jane Green – advocate ex Assist. Headteacher, BSc (HONS) Psych., PGCE QTS, Adv.Dip.Ed.(CD), MA Ed. (Leadership and Management), Social Care Institute for Excellence Trustee and on the co-production steering board for four years
For anyone on the long journey to diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) (previously Joint Hypermobility syndrome (JHS)) or the closely related Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders (HSD), the knowledge, practice and understanding of appropriate musculoskeletal issues from practitioners is hugely beneficial.…
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At 7pm on 21 September 2020, people living with musculoskeletal conditions and healthcare professionals and policy influencers congregated in anticipation of a tweet chat on Twitter – ‘Power to the People.’
The tweet chat encompassed co-production of a new NHS MSK strategy – patients and healthcare professionals improving care together. The discussion for that hour involved 51 people, 279 posts, 1197 engagements. The #MSKCoPro was seen over half a million times by over 100,000 users.
If you missed it, there were too many tweets to publish them all, but here are some of the themes that emerged in response to questions about:
Please feel free to continue the chat using #MSKCoPro.
ESCAPE-pain has been awarded the ‘MSK Care Initiative of the Year’ at the HSJ Value Awards 2020.
The programme was awarded this prestigious award in recognition of its outstanding contribution to delivering better services and driving better outcomes across its organisation and delivery partners over the past 12 months.
The judges felt this this was an excellent initiative which enables self-management for people with hip and knee pain. Clear rationale was given for the initiative with supporting evidence and references, which has led to improvement in patient care.…
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In just over a week’s time, the Royal College of Nursing’s Rheumatology Nursing Forum will be hosting a free webinar looking at the progression of the specialism. The event takes place on the 13 October starting at 6.30pm.
The RCN Forum Chair, Julie Begum, will be joined by Sue Oliver and Diana Finney to discuss the past, present and future of rheumatology nursing before giving you the opportunity to join the discussion and ask your questions.
Please book your place via the RCN Rheumatology Nursing Webinar event page.…
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With cases of COVID-19 currently rising across the UK, there are discussions of a second wave resulting in a spike in COVID-19 -related hospital admissions this autumn. In the first wave many of the activities of the NHS were put on hold as a precaution to preserve capacity. This was understandable in the face of a rapidly escalating and unpredictable threat. However, the BOA is keen to help ensure that in the event of a second wave the normal care of our patients is only suspended as a consequence of absolute necessity.…
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