Health Policy | ARMA

CEO update – Spreading good practice

One thing we seem very good at in the MSK world is identifying examples of good practice. The NHSE/ARMA regional events have showcased a raft of excellent initiatives which make better use of NHS resources whilst also improving patient care. What is often harder to achieve is spreading that good practice.

Last week I attended a conference on delivering sustainable healthcare, which focused on why this is so difficult and what we can do to improve it. All very relevant to MSK improvement.…

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DWP Community partners programme

The Department for Work and Pensions is looking to second people with a professional or lived experience of musculoskeletal conditions to work on an exciting, new project. The Community Partners Programme is a new initiative working with Jobcentre colleagues to enhance our service to customers with disabilities and health conditions.

We are looking to second a colleague from a local organisation to be a Musculoskeletal Community Partner to work across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. We are looking to arrange secondments with organisations who would like their colleagues to gain valuable experience in a government department, and to share their specialist skills and knowledge to enhance the supported to Jobcentre colleagues with disabilities and health conditions.…

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New report from industry Medical Technology Group finds hip replacements will save the UK economy £700m

A not-for-profit organisation comprising patient groups, research charities and medical device manufacturers– the Medical Technology Group – released a report on 29 November 2017 called ‘Keeping Britain Working: How medical technology can help reduce the cost of ill health to the UK economy’

www.mtg.org.uk/major-studies.

This report updated the 2011 report by the Work Foundation into the value of Medical Technology to society and identified how better use of medical technology can help the Government save up to £476m in welfare spending through improved use of medical technology.…

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Guest blog: Improving quality in orthopaedic care

by Mark Brandreth, NOA Lead CEO and
CEO of the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

As the new lead CEO for the National Orthopaedic Alliance (NOA), I am proud to be part of a group of organisations and people who are working to drive improvements in orthopaedic care nationwide. I’m pleased to have been given the opportunity to contribute a guest blog to ARMA’s newsletter to share an update on our work with you. At Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH), our work with the NOA, and its vanguard work in particular, is vital to our future – and to the future of orthopaedic care received by patients across the country.…

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Lessons from traditional Chinese acupuncture – Adding value to life

Guest Blog by Paul Hitchcock, Chief Executive, The British Acupuncture Council

I recently spoke at an NHS England event for International Day for Older People, my talk being titled “Lessons from traditional Chinese acupuncture – adding value to life”. We know we have a demographic challenge here in the UK and we talk about an ageing population that will see an increase of around one million people over the age of sixty five in the next three years. In China the number is closer to three hundred million, although the approach there is not to use age as the differentiator but the person’s overall health and wellbeing – an approach that is also now starting to be applied here in the UK.…

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NICE Persistent Pain Guidelines committee

NICE is looking for members to join the persistent pain guideline committee.

They are looking for:

two general practitioners
a pain specialist
a physician with interest in pain
a liaison psychiatrist
a pharmacist
an allied health professional
a commissioner
a pain psychologist
a nurse specialist or practitioner
a public health professional.

They are also looking for co-opted expert witnesses with the following background or experience:

an addiction specialist
a social worker.

Find full details here on the NICE website.
NICE are also recruiting for lay members to join the committee: www.nice.org.uk/lay-member-persistent-pain-guideline-committee…

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Work Matters launched

On Wednesday 11^th October, NRAS launched its new report, Work Matters, following a survey of over 1,500 people with rheumatoid arthritis.

The launch took place in Parliament and was attended by the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work- Penny Mordaunt MP, who spoke about the importance of work as a health outcome. The findings from this report will form much of NRAS’ campaigning going forward.

You can read the report here and can also order a hardcopy from this link.…

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South East Regional Musculoskeletal (MSK) one-day conference

NHS England and the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) are delighted to be hosting a South East Regional Musculoskeletal (MSK) one-day conference on Tuesday 28 November 2017 at the Arora Hotel, Crawley. The event is sponsored by NHS England and ARMA and is part of their joint MSK programme and will be organised by the Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network.

The South East System MSK event will promote a coherent approach to transforming MSK services across the region by working directly with South East Sustainability Transformation Plans (STPs) footprints to support improvement in the quality of MSK care.…

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Work Matters – NRAS

NRAS will be launching its work report, Work Matters, in Parliament on 11^th October. We are delighted that the Minister for Disabled People, Work and Health, Penny Mordaunt MP, will be joining us at the event. You can follow the proceedings live on twitter by following @NRAS_UK. The report will then be available to order or download from the NRAS website.

Upcoming NRAS events

The Cambridgeshire RA information evening will take place on 19^th October from 7pm to 8.30pm (refreshments from 6.45pm) with the support of the rheumatology team at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. …

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Get a grip on PIP

As an active member of the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), the Arthritis Research UK policy, campaigns and public affairs teams have worked closely with the Chairs of the coalition on the DBC’s new report. The report demonstrating the huge problems which many people experience when trying to access Personal Independence Payments, and includes statistics from the DBC Big Benefits Survey – with over 1500 responses specifically from people with musculoskeletal conditions- and an in depth case study provided by Arthritis Research UK about Debs, who had her PIP reduced and lost her Motability care as a result.…

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