Health Policy | ARMA

CEO Update March-April 2017

March has been a busy month for ARMA. I have enjoyed meeting so many ARMA members, finding out more about what you do and how ARMA fits with your current priorities. I really welcome the level of support you have offered me in my new role as I begin to get an understanding of the priorities of the MSK community.

The highlight of the month must be the three joint ARMA/NHS England regional events. These have been a huge success. All three events were over-subscribed, showing the high level of interest in improving musculoskeletal services locally.…

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The NHS Mandate 2017-18

The Government’s Mandate to NHS England for 2017-18 has been published. This sets out annual deliverables against the seven objectives to 2020. All of these objectives are relevant to musculoskeletal services, but one has been added which makes specific reference to MSK data. This is in relation to the Government’s goal to reduce the disability employment gap and says the NHS should:

“Work with Government to identify opportunities for regular collection of data about incidence, prevalence, clinical activity and outcomes of musculoskeletal patients and services in England.”…

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DMARDs guideline for prescriptions and monitoring

The latest guidance is out for the prescription and monitoring of non-biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). It’s aimed at primary and secondary care practitioners managing patients with rheumatic disease in the UK.

Significant updates include:

(1) Harmonisation of monitoring schedules, recommending that all DMARDs that require laboratory monitoring follow the same frequency of testing

(2) More nuanced discussion of the use of methotrexate in lung disease is provided, drawing from the two large meta-analyses recently published.

(3) Significant change is made regarding the evaluation of retinal toxicity for hydroxychloroquine users:

Lead author Dr James Galloway, Senior Clinical Lecturer at King’s College London says:
“These updates have two major focuses: firstly, streamlining monitoring schedules wherever possible, given the myriad of different regimens across drugs, and most of the schedule variations were somewhat arbitrary in their origins; second, to review and incorporate the evidence base available, acknowledging several key publications that have emerged since the first guidance.…

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World Spine Care

At a recent meeting of the World Federation of Chiropractic in Washington, founder of World Spine Care, Scott Haldeman MD, DC, reported on the latest developments.

The WSC is a collaboration of people working in MSK care, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of those suffering from spine related conditions in communities underserved by health care. Desmond Tutu and Elon Musk have put their names to WSC.

Work goes on in India, Ghana, Botswana and the Dominican Republic. Besides facilitating and funding clinicians’ work in these countries, the WSC also funds college education for future chiropractors from these countries.…

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NRAS – RA Awareness Week 2017

RA Awareness Week is coming soon…19-25 June 2017.

Awareness packs will be sent out in early April and you can request your copy by emailing enquiries@nras.org.uk today.

Over 30 charity CEOs write to DWP about changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

On 15th March, the Chief Executives of over 30 charities and organisations (including NRAS) wrote an open letter to Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Penny Mordaunt, urging her not to proceed with damaging changes to Personal Independence Payments.…

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NICE has published a Guideline for Spondyloarthritis

Debbie Cook, Chief Executive at NASS, has been a member of the Guideline Development Group working with NICE for over two years, particularly giving the patients’ perspective. The NICE Guideline for Spondyloarthritis was issued at the end of February 2017.

NASS welcome this Guideline. We will be working hard to promote it and to ensure the recommendations contained within it are taken on board. You can read it in full on the NICE website.

Dr John Hunter, Consultant Rheumatologist at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

NASS launched our first ever Patients’ Choice awards in 2016 to mark our 40th anniversary. …

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Sport and Exercise Medicine and its Relevance to Work, Health and Disability

Sport and Exercise Medicine and its Relevance to Work, Health and Disability

The Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) UK submitted a response to the Work, Health and Disability Consultation focused on the specialty’s ability to provide service delivery in MSK Medicine. Key points from the response included:

Sport and Exercise Medicine has the skills and knowledge to lead clinical vocational multi-disciplinary teams which can improve health and employment outcomes in the community.
Early assessment for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions is key, via a community-based Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) team who can provide functional analysis of limitations and abilities and decide on the optimal care pathway, in order to meet health and employment needs.

…

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Whole System MSK Regional Events with NHS England

Whole System MSK Regional Events to help transform MSK care outcomes and Quality of Care.

Working in partnership with ARMA, the NHS England Long Term Conditions (LTCs) Unit, are sponsoring a series of regional launch pad events that supports a joined up approach to transforming musculoskeletal (MSK) care.

The practical events will bring together regional and national leaders and organisations including RightCare and GIRFT, patient groups and local MSK stakeholders to focus on what the regions are most challenged by and potential solutions by sharing examples of best practice and evidence including national tools and resources and agree local priorities and actions that would maximise opportunities and maintain momentum.…

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ARMA Response to Improving Lives: The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper

Our response to the UK Government consultation

ARMA welcomes the recognition in the Improving Lives: The Work, Health and Disability Paper of the need to address musculoskeletal conditions and work.

Musculoskeletal conditions are among the commonest causes of people’s inability to work and, as evidenced in the Global Burden of Disease study (2015), are the single biggest cause of pain and disability in the UK. Less than two-thirds of working age people with musculoskeletal conditions are in work. MSK conditions are the leading cause of sickness absence, resulting in 30.6 million working days lost each year and one in five visits to the GP.…

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NRAS becomes co-chair of the Prescription Charges Coalition

In 1968, the Beatles topped the charts with Hey Jude. That’s the same year the medical exemption list for Prescription Charges was written up. Treatments for RA, JIA and other long-term conditions have come on a lot in that time but other than the addition of Cancer in 2009 the list hasn’t changed.

Many of you know that campaigning for all long-term conditions to be added to the exemption list is one of NRAS’s campaign priorities for the year. We’re pleased to have stepped up to join Parkinson’s UK and Crohn’s & Colitis as co-chairs of the Prescription Charges Coalition.…

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