Category: Health Policy

PHE framework for MSK prevention published

Public Health England has published two documents related to MSK prevention. The first is a whole-system strategic framework for prevention of musculoskeletal conditions across the life-course. The purpose is to provide stakeholders and system collaborators with a clear statement of PHE, NHS England and Versus Arthritis’ commitments to promote MSK health and to prevent MSK conditions. Each collaborating organisation, including ARMA, has identified what they will be contributing, and in some cases, leading on.

The document contains information about a range of MSK prevention activities and links to resources and tools to help prevention activity.…

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A new trend in elective hip surgery?

The ARMA Alliance with Versus Arthritis and the British Orthopaedic Association voiced its concerns previously about rationing of joint replacement surgery for people with MSK conditions. ARMA published a position paper on this in 2017.

So what does the latest data tell us about hip surgery? In June, Deborah Ward and Lillie Wenzel from the policy team at The King’s Fund published a blog post: ‘A new trend in elective hip surgery’. They examine the trend in hip replacements, health gain and health gain reported by patients and interpret these trends.…

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A spending review for wellbeing? An idea whose time has come

Guest blog by Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy, President of the Association of Directors of Public Health

To its great credit, New Zealand has become the first country in the world to produce a “wellbeing budget” – a commitment to prioritise population wellbeing as the main mission of the government. A similar philosophy was adopted in Wales in 2015, with the Well-being of Future Generations Act requiring public bodies to think about the long-term impact of their policies on both people and places.…

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Fit For the Future: a Vision for General Practice

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has published a vision for general practice for 2030. It sees a very different place for general practice from the current model, with increased multidisciplinary working and a greater focus on prevention and well-being. This was developed with the involvement of patients, GPs and other stakeholders.

This is a response to the changing nature of health needs with more people presenting with complex and multiple conditions. The current primary care workforce is stretched and the numbers of GPs per 1,000 of population have declined by 5% in the last ten years.…

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RSA Sustainable Health Event

Integrating Health Systems and Paradigms to Drive Culture Change

Tuesday 25 June 2019 at 18:00 – 20:00

Join the RSA Health, Care and Wellbeing Network for a conversation about the integration of health systems and paradigms to support sustainable health, hosted by Paul Hitchcock FRSA.

This event will be an opportunity to explore how the two approaches might be mutually supportive in driving the sort of culture change that we need.

This is a participative event: after an introduction from Paul there will be time to discuss the issues raised, and time for informal networking as well.…

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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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