A week to focus on health equalities

I was delighted last week to be able to join NHS England’s Health Inequalities Improvement Board to present on the importance of MSK health for equalities. I am also delighted that Bola Owolabi, Director of NHS England’s National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme, has written the guest blog for the October issue of our newsletter.

We’ve chosen to highlight equalities during Bone and Joint Week this year because it is critically important. Poor MSK health contributes to and exacerbates health inequalities. MSK is fundamental to our ability to work, socialise, move, eat a good diet – in fact, all the things that enable us to stay healthy.

EURO health bannerI am convinced that ARMA’s vision for MSK health Is inextricably linked to health equalities. EuroHealthNet has just published a report: Reducing Inequalities by Investing in Health-Promoting Care. Included in their definition of health-promoting care is “optimise functional ability”. All MSK healthcare and MSK health promotion work at its heart aims to optimise functional ability. The rest of the definition of health-promoting care chimes well with the approaches we would like to see to MSK services: person-centred, integrated services accessible in the community.

Another report highlighting the connections is from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), who found that some communities face greater barriers to accessing rehabilitation, impacting their life chances, earning potential and ability to be connected and happy.

So please join us during Bone and Joint Week to celebrate what good MSK health can achieve and to call for a greater focus on MSK health equalities.