Category: Research

Helping to straighten the long and winding road

NASS was pleased to work with Dr Helena Marzo-Ortega of Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Simon Whalley from M&F Health to produce a comment piece for The Lancet Rheumatology earlier this month. The article concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in significant disruption for people living with axial SpA (AS) and the healthcare teams providing the vital NHS services they rely on.

The article shines a light on the difficulties that people living with axial SpA (AS) have had accessing vital services, as well as highlighting the innovative steps that healthcare teams have taken to offer people support during the crisis as well as calling for greater collaboration between policy makers and health care providers to safeguard essential care for people with axial SpA (AS).…

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FCP pilot publishes results

First oF project reaches a successful conclusion

The First Contact Practitioner Osteopath pilot, funded by the Osteopathic Foundation, has published its results with excellent implications for the future of osteopaths in the FCP role.

The report indicates results that demonstrate osteopaths have the skills to make a positive impact in these roles.

Read more on iostopathy.org.

Another recent report by the Institute of Osteopathy is Tackling the workforce challenges in MSK care which explores the role of osteopaths as Allied Health Professionals within the NHS.…

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What We Need Now

A new report from National Voices What matters to people for health and care, during COVID-19 and beyond is based on the work throughout the first phase of the pandemic to capture the experiences of people with ongoing health and care needs, through OurCOVIDVoices. The report makes a series of recommendations for those designing services and those delivering services which will be very relevant to MSK services, as well as suggestions for what system leaders can do.

Derived from people’s experiences, the report creates “I statements” such as ‘I am listened to’ and ‘what I say is acted on’, ‘I am supported to understand risks and uncertainties in my life.’…

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NHS Change Challenge Innovations

The NHS Change Challenge site continues to publish the most impactful initiatives submitted. Wave two included a number of digital initiatives and wave three will be related to rheumatology services. Each idea has a short slide deck explaining the change and how it was done, the impact and issues to consider for embedding it.

The information is brief and practical, enabling you to easily use the initiatives that are helpful to you. If you want to comment you can also join the discussion.…

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Survey on the effects of COVID-19 and lockdown

Around half of those with arthritis report increased pain during the pandemic
With over half finding it more difficult to access healthcare

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 42% of people living with arthritis reported that their pain has increased [1] according to a survey by UK Charity Arthritis Action looking at the effects of COVID-19 and lockdown on the daily lives of people with arthritis. Considering there are over 10 million people living with some form of arthritis in the UK [i] this would equate to over 4 million people experiencing increased arthritis pain during the ongoing pandemic.…

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New Report on workforce challenges

The role of osteopaths as AHPs in the NHS

An independent panel of leading healthcare professionals, chaired by Professor Adrian Newland CBE, has authored a report including its findings on the role of osteopaths as Allied Health Professionals within the NHS, and their potential to provide much needed additional capacity to the delivery of NHS MSK services to improve patient care.

The report was launched at a virtual event with NHS commissioners, at which Sue Brown, CEO of ARMA, joined as part of the panel.…

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NRAS Work survey

In July and August 2020, NRAS ran a survey asking about the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on the working lives of people living with rheumatoid arthritis or another form of inflammatory arthritis.

The survey received 348 responses and a short report will be published next month. The overall picture is a concerning one: people reported that their career opportunities, in-work support and the understanding they experienced from colleagues and employers dropped slightly during lockdown. Asked about their expectations for the future, many expected this trend to get worse.…

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Pain in the …Big toe

by Anthony Maher. BSc Hons, MSc, FCPodS, Clinical Lead Consultant Podiatric Surgeon, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

A lot of the time we pay little attention to our feet, that is until something goes wrong. Most of us, luckily, will only occasionally experience foot pain sometime in our life, but for some that pain can be significant, causing pain when walking, limiting choice of footwear and even reducing activity or increasing the risk of falls.

The big toe joint or 1st metatarso-phalangeal joint is one of the most common areas of the foot to become painful (Gilheany, Landorf, & Robinson, 2008; Maher & Kilmartin, 2011).…

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The Doctor Will Zoom You Now

The Doctor Will Zoom You Now was a rapid, qualitative research study designed to understand the patient experience of remote and virtual consultations. The report makes recommendations for both patients and healthcare professionals for getting the most out of a remote healthcare experience.

Remote consultations and the use of technology offer some great opportunities to make significant improvements to general practice, hospital outpatient and community appointments, but making the most of this opportunity means understanding the patient experience. The project was led in partnership with Traverse, National Voices and Healthwatch England.…

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Women and young people hit hardest by lockdown

Study suggests women and young people have been hardest hit psychologically by coronavirus lockdown

A new study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, has looked at the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic on population mental health.

  • It found that there was an overall increase in mental distress in people aged 16 years and older in the UK.
  • This did not affect all groups equally, with some subgroups showing marked increases. Factors most strongly linked with mental health deterioration were those associated with pre-existing health inequalities, such as gender and age.
…

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