Mr Jones is 72 today. A few years ago, he would have celebrated with friends in the pub, but now the pain in his back makes is hard to go out and he gets tired quickly. So, he’s at home watching TV while his wife cooks a meal. He spends a lot of time watching TV and his back seems to be getting worse, but his GP says there is nothing she can do for him but being more active will help.…
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Author: Garreth
Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On
We know that musculoskeletal conditions are much more prevalent in deprived areas so the publication of this report is very relevant to addressing the social determinants of MSK health. It has been produced by the Institute of Health Equity and commissioned by the Health Foundation to mark 10 years on from the landmark study Fair Society, Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review).
The report highlights that:
- people can expect to spend more of their lives in poor health
- improvements to life expectancy have stalled, and declined for the poorest 10% of women
- the health gap has grown between wealthy and deprived areas
- place matters – living in a deprived area of the North East is worse for your health than living in a similarly deprived area in London, to the extent that life expectancy is nearly five years less.
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SOMM reviews stand-alone modules
The Society is currently revisiting its strategy and short and long term plans for its course provision.
The ‘Theory and Practice of Injection Therapy’ and ‘Advancing Clinical Practice in Musculoskeletal Medicine’ modules, stand-alone or optional modules within the Society’s MSc Musculoskeletal Medicine, are being reviewed within the context of the four pillars of advanced practice, as presented in the NHS ‘Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England’ (Clinical Practice, Leadership & Management, Education and Research) and NHS Education for Scotland’s ‘AHP Advanced Practice Education and Development Framework (Musculoskeletal)’ (Clinical Practice, Facilitating Learning, Leadership, Research).…
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Escape-pain 2020 conference
The last few places are remaining for the Escape-Pain 2020 conference on 24 March in London.
Speakers include the new MSK Director from NHSE, Andrew Bennett, Professor Mike Hurley and Sue Brown, ARMA CEO.
See the flyer for more information.
Healthy ageing research prioritisation survey
The Productive Healthy Ageing team at Public Health England are developing the research framework for healthy ageing and would like to invite you to take part in a survey to support this process. They will use the survey to identify the gaps in research on healthy ageing and to produce a list of the highest priority research questions to influence future research proposals.
The survey is designed to reflect the four themes of the Productive Healthy Ageing programme – Healthy Behaviours, Financial Security, Independence and Place, and Meaning and Purpose.…
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Postcode lotteries and transformations
by Sue Brown, ARMA CEO
February has been a month of mixed feelings for me. On the downside I continue to hear of rationing of NHS services by CCGs going against NICE guidelines. More positively I’ve been hearing about some ambitious work to transform MSK services around the country. We need some of this bold thinking if we are going to achieve ARMA’s goal of high quality, appropriate MSK services for everyone who needs them.
This month I spoke to someone in a hospital about hip and knee replacement.…
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Footwear fit for function – how do we choose the right shoes?
By Dr Helen Branthwaite, MSK Project Lead, College of Podiatry.
The rapid changes in shoe design and the increasing number of choices that occur in the footwear market might make a consumer with painful feet quiver at the thought of buying any new shoes. Yet, humans have been wearing shoes on their feet for thousands of years as protection against the environment. Problems have only been recorded in the last 600 years when shoes have been used more as a fashion statement as well as a status symbol.…
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World Young Rheumatic Diseases Day
Word Day, March 18 #wordday2020
World Young Rheumatic Diseases Day is on 18 March aiming to raise the awareness and knowledge level of parents, doctors, primary practitioners, teachers, and the general public to help in early diagnoses, and a quick referral. It aims to improve the level of treatment children receive and their prognosis worldwide.
Find out more at the Word Day website.
Right on Time campaign
Versus Arthritis is campaigning to ensure that everyone who needs a joint replacement gets timely access to treatment. Hundreds of thousands of joint replacement operations take place each year. More than 90% of people who have hip and knee replacements have osteoarthritis.
At the end of February, Versus Arthritis released figures revealing that, in one year alone, almost 30,000 people with arthritis in England waited more than the guaranteed 18-weeks to start treatment. This has
been featured in the Telegraph, with more coverage to follow.…
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NRAS accessing advanced therapies
Accessing Advanced Therapies (biologics, biosimilars, oral JAK inhibitors)
For some time, NRAS has been concerned that some Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have been artificially restricting access to advanced therapies (biologics, biosimilars/JAK inhibitors) and undertook a Freedom of Information request to all CCGs about this. Following discussions with NHS England on behalf of RA patients about this practice, which was felt to be unethical, NRAS is delighted to share with you news of the attached recently published statement from the NHS Regional Medicines Optimisation Committee.…
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