- › Do you think that musculoskeletal services in your area could be improved?
- › Could your local NHS give more priority to MSK?
- › Do you want to find out how you can encourage and support change?
Then this page is for you.
The impact of musculoskeletal ill-health on individuals, NHS and the economy is increasingly being recognised. Our MSK health is what enables us to move, work, and live a full, active and healthy life. As the largest cause of years lived with disability and one of the biggest reasons for sickness absence from work, it is hard to overstate the importance of promoting the MSK health of the population.
ARMA wants everyone to have access to excellent MSK services, regardless of where they live. The resources on this page are for anyone who wants to contribute to this mission.
ICB approaches to MSK services
MSK conditions are a major driver of long-term disability, one of the two leading causes of people being unable to work due to ill health and the impact on individuals, the NHS and the economy is significant. Yet key findings of two reports by ARMA show that too many ICBs are still giving insufficient attention to MSK and chronic pain.
Key messages on Musculoskeletal Service Improvement
This sets out the key messages agreed by our members about what a good MSK service should look like. We encourage anyone discussing local improvement to use this as a checklist of questions to be addressed.
Musculoskeletal core offer for Local NHS plans
In 2019 ARMA developed a core offer to help those developing local services to understand what is needed to deliver evidence based, cost effective services for good MSK population health, and to signpost towards information and support available to help those looking to improve services. The core offer sets out what is required in five areas: Underpinning framework; Services; Prevention; Mental Health; Personalisation. ARMA has also developed a maturity matrix to assist in assessing how well-developed local services are and help identify priorities for improvement.