Category: Health Policy

Musculoskeletal conditions on the national public health agenda

governemnt logoFor the first time since Public Health England (PHE) came into being, musculoskeletal conditions have been mentioned in the Government’s remit letter to PHE. PHE is the national body with responsibility for the nation’s health and wellbeing and tackling health inequalities. Each year the Government sends them a set of instructions about their priorities. In 2019/20 this specifically includes ‘work-focused musculoskeletal prevention activity’.

In 2018, PHE made musculoskeletal conditions one of its priority programmes, and so it’s great that these conditions are now taking their place on the national agenda.…

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New resources for leaders to work together around the NHS Long Term Plan

The Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) has developed free support resources for health, care and voluntary sector leaders who want to drive action through partnership working around the NHS Long Term Plan. The resources include online learning, webinars, workshops, coaching and individual support and are aimed at ICS/STP leads, commissioners, clinicians, and professionals from the voluntary sector.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits local healthcare systems to working in a new way, including a focus on prevention and reducing health inequalities.…

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Guest Blog: Active Hospitals – OUH SEM Pilot

The Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust Pilot

By Dr Christopher Speers, Sport and Exercise Medicine Consultant Oxford University Hospitals Foundation Trust

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide1 and it contributes significantly to the worldwide burden of non-communicable disease2, 3. Hospitals, historically, have been dominated by a culture of rest4. Promoting rest contradicts the evidence which clearly demonstrates that disease outcomes are better for moving more and that post hospital syndrome, or hospital deconditioning, leads to increased risk and adverse outcomes5, 6.…

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Ration Watch – Surgery

ARMA has been working with the Medical Technology Group (MTG) to raise concerns about increasing rationing of joint replacement surgery.

The MTG is a coalition of patient groups, research charities and medical device manufacturers working to improve access to cost effective medical technologies for everyone who needs them. MTG has concerns about treatment rationing in general and have launched the Ration Watch campaign to highlight care inequality and the impact it has on patients’ lives.

Ration Watch aims to expose the scale of rationing and the issues around local commissioning across the UK.…

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Closing the workforce gap

The Health Foundation, Kings Fund and Nuffield Trust recently published a report Closing the Gap: key areas for action on the health and care workforce. The report looked at two areas – nursing and general practice, both very relevant to MSK health care. At the moment the future looks bleak, with 41,000 nursing vacancies in the NHS and another 5,000 in social care. There are 2,500 fewer GPs than are needed. The report, however, is optimistic that these shortfalls can be addressed, provided policy changes are made.…

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NASS delivers inaugural meeting of the first ever APPG on AS

Last week saw a momentous event for people living with axial SpA (AS) in the UK, when NASS held the inaugural meeting of the first ever all-party parliamentary group (APPG) specifically for Axial Spondyloarthritis. Parliamentarians, policy makers, clinicians, healthcare commissioners and NASS members and staff came together to identify and address concerns about AS care.

You can read NASS CEO Dr Dale Webb’s reflections on the meeting and more of what’s to come from NASS’ Every Patient, Every Time campaign.

Guest blog: Time for the final Cinderella to attend the ball?

Musculoskeletal support professionals in the community

by Dr Rob Hampton, GP and Occupational Physician

Across the world, chronic musculoskeletal conditions such as osteoarthritis, inflammatory disorders and common regional conditions such as back, neck, shoulder, hip and knee pain now represent the single greatest cause of years lived with disability 1. When measuring their negative impact on employment, self-reported wellbeing and day-to-day function, chronic musculoskeletal pain conditions are every bit as invasive as other chronic conditions such as heart failure, diabetes and COPD.…

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NHSE planning and contracting guidance summary

Since the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) was published on 7 January 2019, the NHS Operational Planning and Contracting Guidance 2019/20 has been released. It gives guidance on how the additional funding settlement for the NHS should be used.

Key points of interest are:

 It is the start of the process of producing the local plans that will be the implementation of the NHS LTP. For 2019/20, every NHS trust, NHS foundation trust and clinical commissioning group (CCG), will need to agree organisation-level operational plans which combine to form a coherent system-level operating plan.…

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CEO update – Prevention: putting MSK centre stage

Prevention seems to have been the theme of my February. The possibility that a lot of the pain and disability of MSK conditions might be prevented, and that this is being taken seriously is an exciting prospect. Even where the conditions can’t be prevented, good self-management support can make a big difference to the impact of the condition. The Government is clear that the future sustainability of the NHS depends on prevention, and that it wants to improve healthy life expectancy by at least five extra years, by 2035.…

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GP contract reform

Since the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP) was published on 7 January 2019 a new document, Investment and evolution: A five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan, has been released which includes the roll out of the Primary Care Networks model. Here’s a summary of the relevant MSK elements.

The publication covers the following areas:

  • Addressing the workforce shortfall
  • Solving Indemnity Costs
  • Improving the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF)
  • Introducing the Network Contract DES
  • Going ‘digital-first’ and improving access
  • Delivering new network services
  • Guaranteeing investment
  • Supporting research and testing future contract changes
  • Schedule of future contract changes and development work

Workforce

Workforce is identified as the priority for primary care.…

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