Author: Garreth

Paediatric rheumatology in Wales

Wales is the only home nation without a full multidisciplinary paediatric rheumatology service, so many children and families in Wales travel long distances to access vital services. Arthritis Care believes children with arthritis in Wales deserve better.

That is why Arthritis Care Wales, together with the British Society for Rheumatology and the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, held a drop-in event in Cardiff on the 28 June 2017 to talk to Assembly Members about the impact of childhood arthritis and the need for better services.…

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RA awareness week 2017

Once more NRAS has had a very successful RA awareness week with thousands getting involved in the #behindthesmile campaign. Over 500 awareness packs were sent out in the post and there have been over 1,700 downloads of the posters and infographics from the website.

Our thunderclap went live on the first day of the week and surpassed our target, reaching over 175,000 people, and our RA awareness week frame was used by 2,000 people on Facebook and Twitter.

Click to open the full-size the Behind-the-smile NRAS team photo.…

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Please distribute the new NRAS Work Survey

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) launched its new Work Survey last week. This will investigate the experiences of people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Adult Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), any impact it has had on people’s ability to work and how it affects people in the workplace.

The research will allow NRAS to draw comparisons with its previous Work Survey 10 years ago and enable future campaigning to focus on matters that affect people with RA the most at work.…

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Inflammation and Tendinopathy

The BASEM and FSEM Sport & Exercise Medicine conference – Bringing us all together, 12-13 October 2017, will be delivering a focused session on Tendons and Tendinopathy.

In this session, hosted by the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine UK, Dr Stephanie Dakin, BVetMed, MRCVS, Botnar Research Centre, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, will outline the significance of inflammation to the onset and progression of tendinopathy:

Tendinopathy is a common global disease burden causing pain and prolonged disability.…

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Mental wellbeing research

Arthritis Care published new research to launch our Wake up to arthritis campaign during Arthritis Care Week. The report, Hidden impact: Arthritis and mental wellbeing, revealed the huge emotional toll of living with arthritis. Findings are based on over 3,000 survey responses from people with arthritis.

Findings include:

  • 79 per cent feel anxious or depressed because of their arthritis
  • 89 per cent worry about how arthritis will affect their future independence
  • Four in five (80 per cent) have given up activities they enjoy
  • Half (50 per cent) feel isolated or lonely because of their arthritis

Find out more about this research and read the full report here.…

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The Societal Impact of Pain – SIP 2017

The UK Gout Society recently attended the 7th European Symposium of the Societal Impact of Pain (SIP 2017) in Malta, organised by the European Pain Federation (EFIC), Pain Alliance Europe, the Active Citizen Network and Grünenthal.
The event brought together stakeholders from across the EU and MSK community – and provided a platform to raise awareness of the impact of pain, exchange ideas and information, develop consensus and policy strategies, and debate pain as a quality indicator for healthcare systems.

One-in-five adults in the EU are currently living with chronic pain.…

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Use of the Social Value Act by healthcare commissioners

New research conducted by National Voices and Social Enterprise UK has found that only 13% of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) can clearly show that they are actively committed to pursuing social value in their procurement and commissioning decisions.

The Public Services (Social Value Act) 2012 requires commissioners to consider broader social, economic and environmental benefits to their area when making commissioning decisions. The Act was a response to the risk of competitive tendering focusing solely on cost at the expense of other forms of value.…

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NASS Members’ Day & Back Pain Plus

Our annual Members’ Day was held on Saturday 17 June at Bramall Lane stadium in Sheffield. We were delighted to have a full house with 150 members and guests attending. Dr Gareth Jones presented his research on disease flares and Professor Paul Wordsworth gave an update on his research into the genetics of AS. The AS team from the Royal Hallamshire in Sheffield including Dr Lisa Dunkley, Zoe Cox and Liz Byrne presented on what patients should expect from their AS clinic under the new NICE spondyloarthritis guideline and the day ended with a flare management workshop lead by Clare Clarke, Sue Gurden and Claire Harris.…

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RCOT project with PHE: Health and Work Champions – next stage of recruitment

Royal College of Occupational Therapists project with Public Health England:
Health and Work Champions – next stage of recruitment

1st June to 31st July 2017

The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) and Public Health England (PHE) supported by the Council for Work and Health are carrying out a project in which 25 occupational therapists and others across England have become Health and Work Champions. They are using peer to peer education training sessions to encourage their NHS colleagues to routinely ask working age adults about their employment aspirations.…

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