The National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit (NEIAA) collects information on all new patients over the age of sixteen seen in specialist rheumatology departments with suspected inflammatory arthritis in England and Wales. The first report was published in October. The audit assesses seven key metrics of care provided for people with new symptoms of arthritis attending rheumatology services for the first time and makes recommendations for services, educators and commissioners.
Some of the key findings include:
- Secondary care units take an average of 28 days to achieve first assessment, compared to a target of three weeks.
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The Foundation for Research in Rheumatology (FOREUM) launches a new study.
this work, drawing on the experiences of over 100 collaborators to give an overview of why this challenge warrants attention and promising opportunities to improve care.… 
Last year, ARMA members helped Glykeria Skamagki, the senior lecturer in Physiotherapy at Coventry University, with the first stage of a study into chronic musculoskeletal conditions and their management at the workplace. The results were very interesting and now to follow-up the researchers are conducting a survey to identify the strategies that older employees use to manage chronic musculoskeletal conditions at the workplace.
IMplementation of Physical Activity into routine Clinical pracTice in Rheumatic Musculoskeletal Disease
A team of researchers and clinicians from the University of East Anglia’s School of Health Sciences and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are looking for contributors/partners to help in their next project. The project would involve an application for NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (tier 3) funding.