Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance
Influencing policy and care together for best lifelong musculoskeletal health
SOMM’s tutors get together at their Annual Study Day early in the year, as well as meeting on SOMM’s individual courses. As part of their development programme, relevant references to support the musculoskeletal medicine approach are shared, to support the content of SOMM’s Foundation in Musculoskeletal Medicine module.
MSK educators and practitioners might also find them useful and can find them on the document here.
This week ARMA published the Act Now report of the Inquiry 
on Musculoskeletal Health Inequalities and Deprivation.
The report highlights the impact of social and economic determinants of health on those living with MSK conditions. People with MSK conditions in more deprived areas develop conditions earlier, have more complex cases, yet face far greater challenges in managing their MSK conditions and accessing quality MSK services.
Act Now aims to address the drivers of poor musculoskeletal health acting on people living in deprivation and crucially it brings a focus to the part health services across the UK can play to address inequalities.…
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“How to implement self-management support for MSK patients on waiting lists”
Join a live webinar with getUBetter as they share their insights on how to implement digital self-management support for musculoskeletal (MSK) patients on waiting lists.
12% of the UK adult population is on a waiting list, with 10,000 waiting for a T&O operation across an Integrated Care System (ICS). The length of waiting lists, persistent pain, and deconditioning are all a problem. There’s an absolute need to provide evidence-based locally configured peri-operative self-management support and safety netting for patients on waiting lists, wherever they are waiting in the system.…
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NHS England’s Statement on Information on Health Inequalities (duty under section 13SA of the National Health Service Act 2006) was published in November 2023.
Integrated care boards, trusts and foundation trusts should use this statement to identify key information on health inequalities and set out how they have responded to it in annual reports. The document sets out a range of indications which should be published by relevant NHS bodies in England.
The list does not include any MSK-specific measures, although elective care is included, of which MSK makes up a significant portion.…
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The Aquatic Activity and Swimming for Health e-learning programme is now available for everyone within health and social care settings.
Previously only available for colleagues with an NHS email address, the programme can now be accessed by all.
The resource, developed in partnership with Swim England, Aquatic Therapy Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (ATACP) and the University of Nottingham, raises awareness of the benefits of aquatic activity on health and wellbeing and will enhance learners’ confidence in identifying patients who would benefit most.…
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A paper evaluating the effectiveness of the ESCAPE-pain programme delivered in community centres – “Community‐based care for people with chronic knee and hip pain: Preliminary clinical outcomes and healthcare utilisation for ESCAPE‐pain” – shows the positive impact of the programme on levels of participant activity. Before the programme, only 24% of participants were classified as ‘fairly active/active’ (doing more than 30 minutes of activity per week); after the programme, 78% were classified as ‘fairly active/active’; 6 months later, 69% were still ‘fairly active/active’.…
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The World Health Organisation have recently published a new guideline for non-surgical management of chronic primary low back pain in adults in both primary and community care settings.
Recommendations include physical, (one) pharmacological and psychological interventions.
While there are no NRAS Live events planned this month, if you missed any of their live broadcasts, remember you can watch ALL previous NRAS Lives via their YouTube channel.
They have even made this handy playlist, which has all previous live events in chronological order for those of you who would like a Christmas binge!
The Medical Technology Group has launched its elective backlog report 2023 into the creation of Surgical Hubs and Community Diagnostic Centres. Examining decision-making, how NHS England is tackling the backlog, and the role of both patients and medical technology, this report outlines key recommendations to improve the workings of such innovative services.
NHS England has published Musculoskeletal orthopaedic approach to referral optimisation, a guidance document developed by the Outpatient Recovery and Transformation Programme (OPRT) and BestMSK Health Collaborative.
This guidance describes the benefits of referral optimisation in adult services managing musculoskeletal conditions, focusing on the use of specialist advice to enable people to be seen by the right person, at the right time and in the right place.
It makes the case for change to sustain high quality care, manage risk and optimise capacity across primary, community and secondary care MSK services.…
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