Category: CEO Update

Getting it right for MSK – a win for everyone

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

I’m writing this at the end of a busy week with the launch of our latest ICB report and three significant Government announcements about the NHS. I’m reflecting on what it means for addressing the issues raised by our analysis of ICB Joint Forward plans.

The report highlights that ICBs are not paying sufficient attention to MSK at a strategic level. The majority either don’t consider it at all or focus only on one or two parts of the system in silos.…

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A question of balance

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Last month I joined about 200 others at a government consultation event for the Ten Year Health Plan. Patient organisations, voluntary sector and professional bodies came together to get updates from the consultation process so far and discuss questions arising from the vision groups’ work.

Around our tables we were asked to consider one of three questions about how the NHS can make the shift to working more in partnership – with patients, communities and the voluntary sector.…

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Not all about hospitals

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

It was fantastic to see the launch in December of a new GIRFT programme to support reduction in community MSK waiting times. A funded programme of activity on MSK to work with 17 integrated care systems (ICSs) with the highest waiting lists for elective community MSK services. The focus is to reduce waiting times for a community MSK appointment; to improve access to MSK treatment and support people back to work.

January saw the launch of the elective care recovery plan, focused on getting us back to meeting the target of 92% of waits for planned hospital treatment being no more than 18 weeks.…

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Three shifts for MSK

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Last week I was in London with ARMA trustees discussing future plans and opportunities. An optimistic, upbeat meeting full of hope and pride in an organisation that is making a difference. One thing which will make a difference to those opportunities will be the outcome of the Government’s new ten year plan for the NHS.

With the inclusion of MSK in the Major Conditions Strategy we had begun to make progress. It is vital that we don’t lose that.…

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Supporting healthy behaviours

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

It was a pleasure to join the CSP conference last week to speak about our Act Now report and what MSK physios can do to address health inequalities. As ever, lots of enthusiasm from people wanting to work on this. Our workshop was packed and 75% of people said they felt it was going to be difficult to do this but they were up for a challenge.

We asked what support would help people to make progress on inequalities.…

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Over to you Prime Minister

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

After two days in Belfast launching the ARMA MSK Health Inequalities report in Northern Ireland, I found myself on the plane back to England drafting the ARMA response to the Darzi report. I don’t think there are any new revelations in the report. Yet I do think it is important, and something everyone concerned about MSK health should take seriously. I recognise the truth in what it says.

Lord Darzi was asked to carry out an independent investigation into the NHS in England with a very short timescale.…

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Three horizons of MSK

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

I was reminded the other day of the three horizons model and thought how well this expresses the tensions we face in MSK. There is wide recognition that how we do things now doesn’t work for a whole host of reasons. It was this realisation that led Sussex MSK Partnership to try to do something radically different. They came up with community assessment days, which have excited a lot of people. While they experiment with this, they have had to continue delivering the service as it is currently arranged.…

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Ensuring MSK is in the new ten year plan

ARMA CEOby 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.…

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Will you join us?

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

In the last few weeks we have had two new organisations join ARMA – welcome to Lupus UK and National Spine Network. As I write this, I have just received another inquiry about membership so that may soon be three new members.

This is a good time for ARMA’s membership to be growing. I’m writing in the run up to the general election. The airwaves are filled with parties bidding for your vote, making wild claims and undeliverable promises.…

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Waiting for what?

ARMA CEOby Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

We all know that people are waiting too long for a variety of MSK treatment in the NHS. We all know that the NHS is working hard to tackle waiting times with some success. However, the patient’s experience of waiting and the NHS understanding can be very different things. If the NHS is to deal with waiting lists well, then I would argue it needs to understand what waiting means to patients.

The GIRFT rheumatology Further Faster programme invited me to speak about this to their meeting last night.…

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