by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA
On the morning of 5 July 2024, ARMA members gathered on Zoom for initial reflections on the election result. The date had been set many months ago, and it wasn’t the ideal timing. Since then, we have had a little more time to see just what the new government would do. It is too early to say if this will be a turning point for the future of health and healthcare, but they have certainly not wasted any time.
Just ten days in office and we already have Lord Darzi commissioned to carry out an independent investigation into the NHS, access to services, quality of care and the speed at which it is realistic to deliver the level of improvement required. This review will inform a new ten year plan for health, to be led by Sally Warren who was Director of Policy at the Kings Fund.
It is also significant that the first Ministerial visit by the new Secretary of State for Health was not to a big shiny hospital but to a GP surgery. A sign perhaps that there is more to the Labour Party’s talk of a focus on primary and community services than mere rhetoric.
Where does MSK fit?
So far, so good. But where does MSK fit with this? The inclusion of MSK in the Major Conditions Strategy was a huge step forward for us. That strategy is unlikely now to be published, although we hope that the work that has gone into it will inform work on any long term conditions, or multiple conditions, strategy. The significance of MSK for the economy is not lost on the new government. The new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, was on the radio just days after the election talking about the importance of tackling MSK health.
So, what should ARMA, and our members, do? We need to work to ensure that MSK is front and centre of the new ten year plan. Many of our members will be speaking to new MPs and new Ministers in the coming weeks. Readers of this newsletter can also do this – my own new MP is keen to meet me to discuss MSK health.
A co-ordinated voice for MSK
When we do this, we will all have our own key messages. MSK is broad and complex and each of us holds one piece of the jigsaw. This can come across to politicians and policy makers as a discordant cacophony of competing interests.
ARMA is what brings us together. If everyone who talks to a new MP about the importance of MSK speaks about the fact that everyone in MSK is united under the banner of ARMA, then our many voices become an orchestrated chorus of mutually reinforcing messages.
So, I would encourage everyone reading this to talk to your MP about MSK. Emphasise whichever piece of the picture matters most to you. And make it clear that you are part of a wider whole. You can download our MP briefing to give to your MP to reinforce the message.
We have the chance to get MSK the profile it deserves in the new ten year plan. It needs all of us, together, to get it there.