South East Regional Musculoskeletal (MSK) one-day conference

NHS England and the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) are delighted to be hosting a South East Regional Musculoskeletal (MSK) one-day conference on Tuesday 28 November 2017 at the Arora Hotel, Crawley. The event is sponsored by NHS England and ARMA and is part of their joint MSK programme and will be organised by the Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network.

Register now! using this link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/the-whole-system-msk-event.

The South East System MSK event will promote a coherent approach to transforming MSK services across the region by working directly with South East Sustainability Transformation Plans (STPs) footprints to support improvement in the quality of MSK care.…

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PCRS Annual Conference reminder

Event name: Primary Care Rheumatology Society Annual Conference
Date: 16-18th November 2017
Location: Park Inn Hotel, York

Timings: Thursday 16th November 12 noon – Saturday 18th November 12.30pm

The annual PCR Conference in York features a highly respected hands-on, friendly educational conference for GPSIs in MSK + Rheumatology and members of the practice team where you can learn from, build contacts and mix with your peers.

This year’s lectures include:

  • Nice guidelines on Back Pain, implications for treatment
  • Musculoskeletal Evidence Update
  • Pain self-management.


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BSR publishes first UK guideline for the care of adults with lupus

On Friday 6th October 2017, during Lupus Awareness Month, the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) published the first UK guideline on the care of adults with systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus). The clinical guideline is accredited by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Chris Maker, CEO of LUPUS UK said: “The diagnosis and treatment of patients with lupus in the UK has often been inconsistent, with those seeking a diagnosis often facing delays of several years and experiencing uncertainty about their treatment.…

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Raising awareness on World Osteoporosis Day

The National Osteoporosis Society has a busy few days in the run up to this year’s World Osteoporosis Day on 20th October generating lots of activity in the local and national press on the charity’s social media channels.

The day was also used to highlight progress of the charity’s A Message to My Younger Self Campaign after President Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall’s own message was reported in a number of newspapers including The Daily Telegraph and Woman & Home magazine.

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HePAG Acupuncture Foundation Course offer

The Health Professions Acupuncture Group (HePAG) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the AACP, providing Acupuncture Foundation Courses to Osteopaths, Sports Therapists and Chiropractors.

For practitioners wanting to increase their earning opportunities and scope of practice, add acupuncture to your skill set by registering on one of our acupuncture foundation courses.

For more information, visit www.hepag.org.uk/events/foundation.



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PMRGCAuk seeks new Chair of Trustees

Penny Denby will be stepping down in summer 2018 after three years as Chair of Trustees at Polymyalgia Rheumatica & Giant Cell Arteritis UK. 

The charity is looking to appoint a new Chair before Penny finishes her term, so that there can be a substantial handover period. 

PMRGCAuk is an ambitious charity that achieves a great deal with very limited resources. Their membership and profile are growing and this is very exciting time to be getting involved. The new Chair will work closely with the Director to play a leading role in the charity’s future development.…

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Bringing arthritis communities together to mark World Arthritis Day

To mark the 22nd World Arthritis Day on 12th October and Bone and Joint Week from 12th-20th October, Arthritis Action held education and support group meetings in various locations across the UK for people with arthritis during the whole month of October.

Attendees heard from a variety of speakers on a range of issues affecting those with arthritis, including healthy eating, exercise, and physical therapy.

Leicester-based Arthritis Action Member Pauline Walker, aged 60, said: I’m an Arthritis Action member and have enjoyed the local Group meetings in which members, old and new have shared experiences and useful tips on managing arthritis.…

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Flare Rollercoaster workshop, Portsmouth

Arthritis and Connective Tissue Disease flares are normal but do have an impact on every aspect of your life. In simple terms a flare can be described as “a sudden increased severity in symptoms that can hit at any time”.

For many patients having a flare is disheartening, they feel that they have been managing their arthritis/connective tissue disease well and doing all the right things by taking their medication regularly and maintaining a healthy balance of exercise and activity, then one day they wake up and feel like it was all for nothing.…

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BSR’s UK Guideline for the Management of Adults with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

The first UK guideline on the care of adults with systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) was published by the British Society of Rheumatology at the start of October 2017. The clinical guideline is accredited by the National Institute for Health and care Excellence (NICE) which recognises robust, evidence-based and critically evaluated high-quality processes applied to developing a guideline. The eagerly anticipated guideline covers diagnosis, assessment, monitoring and treatment of patients with mild, moderate and severe lupus and is mainly for health professionals in secondary care.…

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The BOA’s Four New Commissioning Guides

The British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) is pleased to announce the recent publication of four revised commissioning guides with the Royal College of Surgeons of England. These NICE-accredited guides set out best practice care pathways to assist CCGs in designing optimal care for their populations. We are extremely grateful to all those involved in the rigorous development and accreditation processes. The guides, which can be found here, are:

  • Pain Arising from the Hip in Adults
  • Painful Deformed Great Toe in Adults
  • Painful Osteoarthritis of the Knee
  • Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Following the recent BOA and ARMA position statements on the rationing of elective orthopaedic services, we are urging stakeholders to consider these guides and to promote their adoption wherever appropriate with local CCGs.…

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