Author: Sue Brown CEO

MSK – Not a challenge anyone can solve alone

I have just returned from the British Orthopaedic Association centenary congress, where ARMA had a session on integrated pathways for orthopaedics. One thing that struck me about the event was the recognition of the importance of multi-disciplinary working. There were significant numbers of delegates who were not orthopaedic surgeons, particularly physiotherapists. A session I attended on hip fracture covered the crucial role of physios in rehabilitation.

It is easy to understand how any professional can become focused on their part of the pathway, delivering the surgery or the rehab to a high standard.…

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Rising up the agenda

Musculoskeletal conditions are common – we all know that. But it hadn’t struck me until recently just how common compared to other long term conditions. 17 million people in the UK have an MSK condition. Compare that with the 850,000 with dementia and think about how much we talk about dementia. It’s a similar picture for other conditions: diabetes, 3.5 million people, cardiovascular, 7 million. Only mental health exceeds the prevalence of MSK conditions.

Of course, we are rightly worried about dementia.…

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No health without MSK health

“No health without MSK health”. Those were the words of our guest speaker at the ARMA AGM and they clearly struck a chord with members. They were on my mind last week when I attended a consultation meeting held by NHS England about the new ten-year plan for the NHS. At the moment MSK health doesn’t get as much profile as conditions such as mental health, cancer or cardiovascular. Not to downplay the importance of these conditions, but MSK health underpins all aspects of our ability to be independent and lead the active lives we want.…

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From running to professional support: The role of the voluntary sector in MSK

About a year ago I joined parkrun and I still have the enthusiasm of a new convert. It’s a great way to start the weekend, running in a park with about 300 other people, improving your MSK health as you go, and then coffee and a chat after. So I was delighted to hear that parkrun UK and the Royal College of GPs have launched an initiative encouraging GP practices to become ‘parkrun practices’. GPs in this film talk about why they take part in parkrun and suggest it to patients.…

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Harnessing a collective focus to transform MSK services

Innovation, transformation, improvement; everyone is trying to change health services for the better from NHS England to ARMA and each of our members, from the top and the centre to the local and the frontline.

There is also a lot being written about this. Last month’s guest blog looked at a report from the innovation unit with the Health Foundation on spread of innovation in the NHS. This month I’ve been reading a report from the Kings Fund on transformation. The report, or at least the summary, is worth a read; even though the four examples are not MSK-related, the key messages are very relevant.…

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Not just what to do

There is so much going on in the world of MSK it is sometimes hard to know where to start. I am constantly reminded of the vast range of good practice that exists out there. In the last few weeks I have heard about all kinds of activity, from trialling health trainers for joint pain in community settings, to the development of a toolkit for good MSK health for mobile workers.

But how do people working locally to improve services know what they might be able to achieve?…

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Celebrate the messy and the unpredictable

Bringing knowledge together, bringing people together: those are the aims of ARMA’s clinical networks project. Bringing them together to improve the lives of people with MSK conditions, of course. That really sums up what ARMA is all about. We are about breaking down silos and professional boundaries, creating services which work in pathways, where multidisciplinary teams ensure people get the right support at the right time. We are about sharing knowledge and good practice so that professionals know what works and can replicate excellence in their local area.…

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CEO update: Magic happens.

At the end of January, I had the pleasure of experiencing an ARMA lecture for the first time. The lecture itself was excellent. No surprises there as it was delivered by Dame Carol Black speaking on musculoskeletal conditions, disability and employment. If you missed it, you can see the slides and video on the ARMA website. Twitter discussion using #MSKatwork continued into the following days. Between this and the follow-up articles on the talk (such as this one by the CSP), the audience for our message was huge.…

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Happy 2018?

Happy New Year to all our supporters.

Although it is hard to feel that it will be happy for the NHS as winter crisis stories filled the media. Everyone in Government including the Prime Minister was forced to apologise as routine operations were postponed to help cope with the pressure of emergencies. Ministers appeared in the media to argue that the moves were part of a planned response and therefore there was no “crisis”. Listening to the coverage I took a small crumb of comfort: again and again, when giving an example of the negative impact of delays, hip and knee operations were mentioned.…

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Strength in numbers

There are many reasons for organisations working in collaboration with others. Over the years I have worked to influence health and care policy I have seen many changes which could never have happened if organisations had not worked together on issues of common concern, even where opinions may differ on other issues.

Bone and Joint week 2017 in October showed how, with a bit of co-ordination, we can work together to speak louder than any one organisation alone. Bone and Joint Week is an international opportunity to raise awareness of issues related to all things musculoskeletal.…

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