Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance
Influencing policy and care together for best lifelong musculoskeletal health
CEO update by Sue Brown
One of the things I love about my job is the variety of things I get involved in. The wide scope of what is covered by musculoskeletal health and the variety of ARMA members, partners and stakeholders means no two days are ever the same. August has been a month to prepare for the exciting variety of activity we have planned including our annual lecture, a roundtable on pain, an event on physical activity and more webinars.…
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A new campaign, We are Undefeatable, launched on 2 September from Sport England and associated partners including Versus Arthritis.
The campaign aims to help people with health conditions find ways to get active. With a long term condition you are two times more likely to be inactive. Physical activity plays a powerful role, it can help manage 20 or more conditions and reduce the risk of many health conditions by up to 40%.
Sport England are challenging the existing narrative and working with partners to challenge the status quo.…
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by Duleep Allirajah, Assistant Director of Policy and Campaigns, RCGP
As any patient who struggled to book a GP appointment will know only too well, general practice in the UK is under immense strain. Demand for appointments is rising and GPs are seeing more patients with complex needs. At the same time, practices are closing, workloads are reaching unsafe levels and burnt-out GPs are quitting the profession. That is why the Royal College of General Practitioners decided the time was right to publish Fit for the Future, our vision for the revitalisation of general practice.…
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A new resource on MSDs for workplaces – ‘Conversation Starters for workplace discussions on musculoskeletal disorders’ – is now available online from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).
This is an Occupational safety and health (OSH) resource for running workplace group discussions on MSDs and their prevention. Each activity includes an MSD scenario and a series of questions to facilitate discussion.
The discussion activities also cover raising MSD issues promptly with your employer, and how to speak with your employer/employee about an individual MSD problem, including an RMD – see conversation starters 9 to 12.…
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The Versus Arthritis Core Skills in Musculoskeletal Care one day Workshop has been developed for primary care health professionals to improve knowledge, skills and confidence in delivering high quality care to patients with musculoskeletal conditions. The workshops are largely split into three sections: Spine, lower limb and upper limb, with an overview of a range of musculoskeletal conditions. The workshop is hands-on and focuses on patient assessment and examination, diagnosis and support. See the workshop in action here.
The remaining workshop dates for 2019 are:
Wednesday 25 September – London
Wednesday 23 October – Leeds
Tuesday 26 November – London
Tuesday 10 December – Glasgow
For more information or to book your place please visit www.coreskillsinmsk.co.uk…
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EULAR has published a new lay summary: EULAR recommendations for physical activity in people with inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis
EULAR is disseminating the lay versions of the recommendations to patient organisations and healthcare professionals to support patients and carers in managing their condition.
For more lay summaries of EULAR recommendations, go to the EULAR website.
by Liz Lawrence, Head of Health Service Improvement, Versus Arthritis
Versus Arthritis has a rich research heritage and has funded some great research that has advanced practice including ESCAPE-pain or ‘Enabling Self-management and Coping with Arthritis Pain through Exercise’. This is a six-week rehabilitation programme for people aged 45+ with persistent hip and/or knee osteoarthritis. ESCAPE-pain involves group education and exercise delivered over twelve sessions. The ESCAPE-pain programme was originally developed by Professor Mike Hurley [1] with funding from Arthritis Research UK (now Versus Arthritis).…
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by Michael Ly, Health Intelligence Manager, Versus Arthritis
In January 2019, NHS England published the NHS Long Term Plan, outlining its vision to improve the health and wellbeing of people over the next 10 years. Central to this vision is a commitment to designing and delivering services that are more joined-up, tailored and community-based to meet the needs of local people, including those who face health inequalities.
To do this effectively, the Long Term Plan recognises that local health and care systems will need to work in partnership with communities and charities to understand the health and care needs of their local population.…
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Following initial policy direction in the Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s green paper in July, on Friday 16 August the Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock announced an evidence-based review into the NHS Health Check service. Alongside suggestions that checks are personalised in future, the review will consider ‘increasing the range of advice the checks can offer – for example, prevention of musculoskeletal problems’. This is a brilliant opportunity to make sure that people are routinely asked about the health of their muscles, bones and joints at 40 years of age, and are provided with advice to support their musculoskeletal health.…
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Charity Founder, Ailsa Bosworth MBE steps down after 18 years as CEO of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society to take on a new role as National Patient Champion for people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.
The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) announced that Ailsa Bosworth MBE, the charity’s Founder and CEO stepped down as CEO at the organisation’s AGM on 26 June and took on a new role as National Patient Champion. Clare Jacklin, who worked with Ailsa Bosworth for the last 12 years, took over as CEO from 27 June 2019.…
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