Category: CEO Update

CEO update: Looking forward together

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Here we are back in lockdown, with the NHS under even more pressure and MSK services severely impacted. COVID-19 response is still dominating the work of ARMA, although we are also progressing plans for other work in 2021. There are some different issues for MSK this time around, and vaccination currently dominates our work. When some people with MSK conditions are vaccinated, the timings of MSK treatment may need to be considered.

I am delighted that ARMA can host a document setting out the principles for these timing decisions.…

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CEO update: Promoting MSK health

The incidence of MSK conditions, particularly neck and shoulder pain, has gone up during the pandemic. This represents a significant amount of pain that would not have happened without the pandemic changing the way we live and work. Which got me wondering how much of the pre-pandemic MSK conditions would have been preventable.

MSK ill-health represents many thousands of lives impacted and restricted by pain and poor mobility. However great the services we have, prevention is the better option where possible.…

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The spirit of #MSKTogether

About a year ago ARMA had a vision for a conference that would bring together stakeholders from across the MSK community to think about how we can work better together to improve the lives of people living with MSK conditions. Earlier this week that vision became a reality in the form of the Working Together conference.

The planning started back in January when I began to seek out people who were already doing this well. I had conversations with some amazing people doing incredible work to join up services across systems and to bring about excellent multi-disciplinary working.…

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Holding onto the positive

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Things feel very precarious and uncertain as everywhere in the UK takes measures to control the spread of Covid-19. With the various tiered systems, the firebreak in Wales and the four-week lockdown in England, we all know that this is going to be a difficult winter, especially for people working in the NHS and those who need healthcare. ARMA will continue to support our members through whatever the winter holds and to champion the importance of MSK services.…

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Musculoskeletal health now more important than ever

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

At the end of Bone and Joint Week (12 – 20 October) I reflect on how much things have changed in just ten days. It is an increasingly worrying time for both healthcare professionals and people with MSK conditions. The response to Covid-19 has already had a significant impact on the MSK health of the nation. The need for good MSK services has grown. During lockdown people worked from makeshift home offices, were less active and many were afraid to use NHS services even when they needed them.…

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Good musculoskeletal services – Now more than ever

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

As I write this, the news is of rising cases of Covid-19, rising hospital admissions and local lockdowns. All our readers will be concerned about what this might mean for NHS services. The prospect of going through all that again is frightening. One thing ARMA members, professional and patient organisations alike, are saying is that for good musculoskeletal health, now more than ever, MSK services matter.

We are not in the same place as we were in March and we cannot respond in the same way.…

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Lived experience, equality and prevention

Whatever anyone may claim, the NHS has been, and still is, completely overwhelmed by the impact of Covid-19. Across the board MSK services are struggling. Meeting the targets of 90% elective procedures and 100% of outpatient appointments by October is not easy. Lots of things will be required – efficient pathways, appropriate use of digital, increases in support for self-management. Three things I feel must be included are lived experience, a focus on equality and prevention.

I’ve been privileged to be part of the Lived Experience Group which informs all aspects of NHS England work on MSK services post-Covid.…

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MSK leading the way

by Sue Brown, CEO, ARMA

It’s been fantastic over the last few months to work with ARMA members to rise to the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic. We now have to rise to a new challenge – resetting MSK services to be more personalised and to use shared decision making to ensure people receive the right treatment efficiently and effectively. ARMA’s vision for MSK and that discussed at the NHS England MSK leadership meetings are remarkably similar. Making that vision a reality will take the combined effort of all of us.…

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If it doesn’t work for patients it doesn’t work

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

Covid-19 has brought out some amazing collaboration in MSK. Different parts of the system have been affected in different ways – the issues restarting surgery are enormous, there is a back log of people who need to see a rheumatologist, large numbers of staff from community services redeployed into covid wards and are now returning to their previous roles.

In the middle of all this have been patients, struggling to navigate a system in chaos. Unable to get treatment, planned surgery delayed, people in pain wondering when they might be seen.…

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Challenges and collaboration – progress for MSK in 2020

Alongside the pain and misery of the Covid-19 pandemic there have also been some beneficial side effects – quiet streets and skies, birdsong, less pollution. This is also true in the world of MSK. ARMA has been a champion for the NHS Change Challenge, a project to identify the new and innovative ways of working that have been rapidly developed across the NHS and to ensure beneficial changes are captured and locked in. I think it is no accident that NHS Improvement chose to pilot this in MSK.…

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