coronavirus-covid19

COVID Shielding Voices report

In October 2023 the COVID Shielding Voices report was published. Funded by Versus Arthritis and conducted by the Centre for Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, it is a research study about people with autoimmune inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, who shielded during the pandemic. The report has been shared with both the UK and Scottish COVID-19 inquiries.

The COVID Shielding Voices report captures the depth of people’s experiences of shielding during the pandemic and its long-lasting impact on them, their families, their mental health, and their working lives.…

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Pain consultations during the pandemic

Pain Concern is pleased to announce that the new edition of the Airing Pain podcast will be released on 22/02/2023:

Airing Pain #134 Pain Consultations during the COVID-19 Pandemic – Lessons Learnt.

Watch the trailer.

This edition of Airing Pain examines how COVID-19 has impacted on the relationship between patient and healthcare professional.

In the two or so years of living with COVID-19, the face-to-face relationship between doctors and patients was one of the first casualties. With restrictions relaxed, have we returned to the status quo, or has what was developed at breakneck speed led to new working practices? …

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Sharing pain podcast episode

Pain Concern would like to announce their new podcast episode, Sharing pain – how group consultations can help with long COVID and other conditions.

Episode description: Airing Pain producer, Paul Evans, spoke to doctors and patients at Berkshire Pain Clinic and Woodley Centre Surgery about managing the symptoms of Long COVID, the importance of group consultations and the similarities between Long COVID and other chronic conditions. The episode also explores the multi-disciplinary approach at the clinic, and includes interviews with a range of medical staff on how they help people to manage their symptoms.…

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MELODY – Investigating COVID-19 vaccine efficacy in immunocompromised people

A new national trial is recruiting people with rare autoimmune diseases to measure their COVID-19 antibody response following at least 3 vaccinations.

The MELODY study is recruiting immunocompromised people to determine the antibody levels they develop in response to COVID-19 vaccination.

The MELODY study aims to:

Assess how many immunocompromised people have detectable antibodies against COVID-19 following at least 3 vaccines;
Investigate whether a lack of detectable antibodies is associated with risk of infection over a 6-month period;
Investigate what factors are associated with lack of detectable antibodies in immunocompromised people.

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Learning to live with the virus – collectively

As Plan B ends in England and the other nations in the UK remove different aspects of COVID protections, the news is all of learning to live with the virus and getting back to normal. For very many people with MSK conditions this is not the experience. Whether it is people facing long waits for treatment or people taking medication that puts them at increased risk, living with the virus and its consequences is harder for some.

As Plan B ends, ARMA members’ helplines are again flooded with calls from people who are immunosuppressed, worried about their needs being forgotten again.…

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The changing healthcare landscape

In her most recent blog about the changes in the healthcare landscape caused by the pandemic, our National Patient Champion, Ailsa Bosworth MBE reflects on how these changes will impact on the care of people with RA and Adult JIA. She considers how it has become even more important for those with these autoimmune conditions to be able to learn about their disease and acquire skills and coping strategies to enable better supported self-management, and Ailsa explains how NRAS can help with this.…

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COVID-19 update video – Hope on the horizon

Hope on the horizon for immuno-suppressed/compromised individuals

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, in partnership with ARMA, delivered a Facebook live session on vaccination and new COVID-19 treatments aimed at anyone who is immunosuppressed.

Watch the recording to learn about a new scheme to rapidly get treatments to those who are immunocompromised and a trial of treatments for those over 50 or with certain risk factors.

Arthritis Action’s World Arthritis Day campaign

To mark World Arthritis Day on 12^th October, Arthritis Action ran a week-long campaign on social channels to raise awareness of arthritis and highlight the impact a year living with the COVID-19 pandemic has had on people living with long-term pain conditions, like arthritis. This included the launch of a new video, where Arthritis Action members and volunteers Leigh Walmsley and Lucy Morley-Williams share their inspiring stories of living with arthritis during a difficult year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.…

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NOA’s COVID Recovery webinars

Webinar recording: Update on Orthopaedic COVID-19 Recovery

The latest NOA webinar took place on 15 September 2021. The session included a powerful presentation from orthopaedic patient, Val Harvey, who has shared her journey throughout the pandemic with the NOA and joined the webinar for an update. Paul Jenkins, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Scottish Committee for Orthopaedic and Trauma (SCOT) looked at how COVID-19 has impacted orthopaedic services in Scotland, and the programme of remobilisation, redesign and recovery. You can view the recording here.…

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Impacts of COVID-19 on deconditioning and falls

Public Health England has published a report on the wider impacts of COVID-19 on physical activity, deconditioning and falls in older adults. The study modelled the likely effect of the decrease in strength and balance activity observed during the pandemic on people who experience a fall, the number of falls and associated health and social care costs.

Key findings

Some of the key findings were:

32% of older people were inactive between March to May 2020. This has increased from 27% in the corresponding period in 2019;
average duration of strength and balance activity decreased from 126 to 77 minutes per week, with the greatest change in the 70 to 74 age group;
without mitigation, modelling predicts that 110,000 more older people (an increase of 3.9%) are projected to have at least one fall per year as a result of reduced strength and balance activity during the pandemic.

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