NOA Annual Members’ Conference 2025

The National Orthopaedic Alliance will be holding its 4th NOA Annual Members Conference on 15 May 2025 at the Birmingham Conference & Events Centre (BCEC).

Clinicians and healthcare professionals from multi-disciplinary backgrounds within orthopaedics meet to discuss key challenges impacting musculoskeletal health and orthopaedic care. Attendees will gain insights into national solutions and initiatives, learn about developments within the NOA Membership and discover opportunities for collaboration and sharing of best practices. Registration will open in September 2024.

For more information, please visit the NOA conference pages.

New CEO takes up post at NRAS

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) is delighted to announce the arrival of its new CEO, Peter Foxton. Peter takes over from Clare Jacklin who steps down after 5 years as Chief Executive and over 17 years working with the charity.

Peter arrives with a background in fundraising and retail, and for the last 14 years has been working at Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Surrey as Director of Income Generation. Prior to that, Peter worked in both the commercial and charity retail sectors.…

Read more of this article

Paediatric Clinical Assessment Guide

Versus Arthritis are excited to launch their newly updated paediatric clinical assessment guide for healthcare professionals supporting children and young people with arthritis and MSK conditions.

The guide can be accessed online or a free printed copy can be ordered from the Versus Arthritis online shop.

Check your bone health risk today

Did you know a bone breaks every minute in the UK? Join over 350,000 people taking action to protect their bone health.

Check your risk today using the ROS’s quick easy and free online risk checker and get a personalised report in less than 5 minutes. It’s never too early or too late to start looking after your bones.

FSEM Diploma in MSK Medicine 2025

The Diploma in MSK Medicine recognises the excellence in MSK care and provides a benchmark of quality for both service commissioners and patients.

The Diploma has been developed to support the multi-professional workforce that is evolving to meet the growing need for optimal care of musculoskeletal conditions by demonstrating applied knowledge in this important field.

Learn more and register your interest here.

NRAS Live: Dental Care, Oral Health & RA

If you have rheumatoid arthritis and think that oral health shouldn’t be top of your list – you may be surprised! Findings from recent studies suggest that there are significant links between oral health and those living with RA and other common co-morbidities such as heart disease and diabetes.

In this NRAS Live chat, Ailsa will be joined by Iain Chapple, Professor of Periodontology at University of Birmingham and Maddy Roberts, our Families and Young Peoples Service Manager from the JIA-at-NRAS team.…

Read more of this article

Fostering conversations to transform MSK healthcare

Insights from the Versus Arthritis National MSK Health Data Group

This month’s guest blog comes from Versus Arthritis with guest bloggers Karen Hodgson, Head of Health Intelligence, and Emma Tomlinson, Health Intelligence Portfolio Officer sharing insights from the MSK Health Data Group and hopes for its future.

Over 10 million people live with arthritis in the UK. It can impact on all aspects of our lives affecting how we move, think, and feel. To effectively treat, manage, and ultimately prevent arthritis we need to understand the experiences of people with arthritis, their access to health services and factors that impact their conditions. …

Read more of this article

Ensuring MSK is in the new ten year plan

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

On the morning of 5 July 2024, ARMA members gathered on Zoom for initial reflections on the election result. The date had been set many months ago, and it wasn’t the ideal timing. Since then, we have had a little more time to see just what the new government would do. It is too early to say if this will be a turning point for the future of health and healthcare, but they have certainly not wasted any time.…

Read more of this article

ARMA Announces New Trustee

ARMA is delighted to welcome our newest Trustee Noha Al Afifi, interim CEO of Arthritis Action. We look forward to working closely with Noha and know the wealth of experience she brings to ARMA will be an asset to the organisation.

Speaking about her election Noha stated: “I am proud and pleased to be joining the Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Alliance Board and look forward to working with them as a Trustee, raising the awareness of the impact MSK conditions have on all members of society and how we can tackle health inequalities.”

New NHS FCP Osteopath funding available

NHS funding now available for First Contact Practitioner Osteopaths

NHS funding is now available for employing osteopaths in primary care roles such as First Contact Practitioners (FCP). This follows significant lobbying by the Institute of Osteopathy and is part of the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES) for the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) 2024-2025 contract.