GIRFT and elective community MSK waiting times

GIRFT is getting started on a £3.5m programme of activity working with 17 ICBs with the highest waiting lists for elective community MSK services.

The focus is on reducing waiting times for a community MSK appointment; to improve access to MSK treatment and support people back to work.

The GIRFT MSK Community Delivery Programme will see each ICB receive funding and support to develop more efficient ways of getting MSK patients treated, off waiting lists and back onto the path of employment.…

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NRAS Stress Matters booklet

bookletsNRAS is pleased to announce the launch of their new Stress Matters booklet. This follows on from the report by the same name, which covered the results of a survey exploring patient experiences of stress in relation to their inflammatory arthritis (IA).

Stress Matters explores what the findings of the NRAS study mean for people living with IA. It also helps people to understand what stress is, how it might affect them and gives tips on how it can be managed.…

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National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit Report

The National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit (NEIAA) State of the Nation Summary Report 2024 was published on 10 October 2024.

NEIAA is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP) and is delivered by the British Society for Rheumatology.  

The audit aims to improve the quality of care for people living with inflammatory arthritis, connective tissue disease, and systemic vasculitis, collecting information on all adults with a new diagnosis in English and Welsh specialist rheumatology departments. …

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AI in Orthopaedics webinar

AI in Orthopaedics: NOA Fireside chat with Atif Ishaq and Dr Shruti Turner

AI is becoming more common in healthcare and is expected to drive increased productivity over the coming years. But is AI always the solution? When should we be using it in orthopaedics? What are NOA members already doing? Join this fireside chat to find out more from our experts. This webinar is open to all staff from NOA member trusts.

Guest Speakers:

  • Atif IshaqHead of Research & Development, Data and Generative AI at a leading Consumer Healthcare company and Associate Non-Executive Director at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital;
  • Dr Shruti Turner, Biomedical Engineer with experience of Machine Learning at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital.


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New NHS Resource for adults with chronic primary pain

Decision-making documentNHS England has published a new decision support tool – Making decisions to help you live well with chronic primary pain.

The resource is intended as a decision aid for people aged 16 years and over with chronic primary pain to help you think about what options you might like to consider to help you live well with pain.

You can find the decision support tool here.

NRAS Live: Dental Care, Oral Health & RA

If you have rheumatoid arthritis and think that oral health shouldn’t be top of your list – you may be surprised! Findings from recent studies suggest that there are significant links between oral health and those living with RA and other common co-morbidities such as heart disease and diabetes.

In this NRAS Live chat, Ailsa will be joined by Iain Chapple, Professor of Periodontology at University of Birmingham and Maddy Roberts, our Families and Young Peoples Service Manager from the JIA-at-NRAS team.…

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ORUK hosts first national Bunions Think Tank

Orthopaedic Research (ORUK) recently hosted the first National Bunions Think Tank, in Association with Rosetrees Trust. The Think Tank included many of the country’s leading foot health experts, including primary care physicians, podiatrists, physiotherapists, surgeons, academics and research funders, who came together to discuss ways to improve patient care and identify areas requiring further research. think tank logoThe consensus in the room was that bunions, despite affecting around 10 million people in the UK alone, is underfunded and under-recognised as a serious, debilitating condition that impacts people’s personal, social and professional lives.…

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Personalised Medicine and Empowered Pain Relief 

Edition 143 of Airing Pain focuses on the treatment of pain, the importance of catering treatment to a person’s individual genetic makeup, and why addressing the psychological dimensions of pain is crucial in treating it effectively.  

The process of finding a medication or treatment that works for a person often involves a lot of trial and error, which can be a frustrating process for someone to go through. This process can be side-stepped through the use of personalised medicine, where information about a person’s genetic makeup is used to tailor and optimise their treatment so it is as effective as possible.  …

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SOMM Tutors’ References for 2024

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.