Health Policy | ARMA

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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Lack of NHS Resources in Wales Could Be Causing Delays to Arthritis Diagnosis and Treatment

Joint release from: British Society for Rheumatology and National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society

Rheumatology and arthritis societies raise concerns for arthritis services in Wales and call for more support to improve long-term patient outcomes.

The number of patients referred to rheumatology departments in Wales has increased by 66% since 2012, but resources for treatment are not keeping up with the demand, say patients and clinicians. As a consequence, new patients are waiting longer to be seen and treated and existing patients are struggling to secure follow up appointments and self-management advice. …

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Response to new rules protecting children from ‘junk food’ advertising

The Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) UK welcomes new rules by the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) to ban the advertising of high fat, salt and sugar food and drink products in children’s media and supports both the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) and the Children’s Food Campaign in their responses to the measures, calling for loopholes to be closed.

The FSEM, as part of the OHA, is calling for a sustained increase in regular physical activity, according to UK Chief Medical Officer guidelines, to be part of all children’s daily routines to prevent and manage obesity, alongside measures to reduce the consumption of less healthy food and drink.…

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Improving lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper

Last month the Government announced a major consultation on helping disabled people and people with health conditions into work: Improving lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper.

The Green Paper, published on 31 October by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health, looks at new ways to support people with health conditions and disabled people into work as well as supporting and caring for those who cannot work.

The scope of the Green Paper is very broad, covering health and employment as well as benefits and support.…

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Realising the Value

What is a good outcome?

We’re two years into delivery of the Five Year Forward View, the document heralded as a blueprint for bridging the gaps in finance, quality and prevention. Chapter Two of that seminal document sets out a vision for a ‘new relationship with people and communities’…

But what does that actually mean?

The Realising the Value programme has spent 18 months seeking to turn those words into a more deliverable reality. It is an important body of work delivered by Nesta, the Health Foundation, National Voices, Regional Voices, NAVCA, Volunteering Matters and others.…

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Direct access to physiotherapy benefits MSK patients

Between 20 and 30% of a GP caseload is made up of patients with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions; by expanding the availability of physiotherapy in general practice, GP time is freed up and patients are put in the driving seat, receiving the right care from the right professional. Physiotherapists are experts regarding MSK issues and have the same high safety record as GPs.

There are already examples of experienced physiotherapists working alongside GPs as the first point of contact for MSK patients.…

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