Author: Garreth

Reaching new heights for the quality of care for people with musculoskeletal conditions

Guest blog by Liz Lingard, NHS RightCare Delivery Partner

Over the past 3 months I have joined the ‘Whole System MSK events’ that ARMA and NHS England have organised as the RightCare speaker. This was an opportunity to clarify the RightCare approach to everyone working across the system and how they can apply this in their local health economies. The core aim of RightCare aligns to what each of the ARMA partners aspires to achieve: ensure the right person is able to access the right care in the right place at the right time, making the best use of available resources to help deliver a sustainable NHS.

…

Read more of this article

Championing arthritis in parliament

Arthritis Research UK have created a new manifesto telling MPs what they can do to ensure that everyone with arthritis can have fuller lives. To make these recommendations a reality, it is vital that MPs across the country support people with arthritis through local and national activity. Prior to the general election we asked every candidate standing to be an Arthritis Champion and had 350 pledges with 24 candidates being elected to parliament. There are also 125 returning MPs who were Arthritis Champions in the previous Parliament.…

Read more of this article

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.…

Read more of this article

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.…

Read more of this article

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.…

Read more of this article

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.…

Read more of this article

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.…

Read more of this article

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.…

Read more of this article