public health

New Hips & Knees: Britian’s Longest Queue?

With numbers on the NHS waiting list at a record high of 7.75 million and rising, on the 30^th of November 2023, ITV’s flagship current affairs programme ‘ITV Tonight’ focused on the huge waiting lists for joint replacement surgery: Tonight – Series 25 – Episode 35 – ITVX

With input from Versus Arthritis, Dr Zoe Williams investigates the health impacts on the estimated one million-plus people currently waiting, in some cases for years, for trauma and orthopaedic treatment. The programme looked behind those figures and into the lives of those waiting in pain for transformative orthopaedic treatment, explored whether surgery is the only option for patients in severe pain, and discussed how people can wait as well as possible whilst awaiting treatment.…

Read more of this article

Musculoskeletal orthopaedic approach to referral optimisation

NHS England has published Musculoskeletal orthopaedic approach to referral optimisation, a guidance document developed by the Outpatient Recovery and Transformation Programme (OPRT) and BestMSK Health Collaborative.

This guidance describes the benefits of referral optimisation in adult services managing musculoskeletal conditions, focusing on the use of specialist advice to enable people to be seen by the right person, at the right time and in the right place.

It makes the case for change to sustain high quality care, manage risk and optimise capacity across primary, community and secondary care MSK services.…

Read more of this article

It’s not all about MSK

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

A few days ago the Chief Medical officer, Chris Whitty, published his report for 2023 entitled health in an ageing society. I’m sure many of you will immediately seek out the MSK related content, skimming straight to the section on early diagnosis of osteoporosis or the case studies on ESCAPE-pain and MSK hubs. However, those are not the bits I think are most important for us.

The big take away message for me is the section on multi-morbidity.…

Read more of this article

Osteopaths and their work in public health

Daniel McCarthy, Professional Development Manager at the iO, has recently worked with the Royal Society for Public Health to promote the role of the osteopathic profession in public health matters.

A resource has been created in the Allied Health Professions Hub; this new infographic illustrates how an osteopaths role integrates within public health, accompanied by a profession descriptor. Download these free materials today.

Why ICBs must prioritise MSK (and what you can do to help)

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

My own local ICS, like many others, has the following ambition in its current strategic plan: “To eradicate the gap in healthy life expectancy between NECN ICS and the rest of the country”. The strategy contains one mention of improving access to MSK services and two local examples of work to achieve this. It’s not enough, and here’s why.

On 1 June, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) published a report on understanding the drivers of healthy life expectancy.…

Read more of this article

Championing MSK in public health

Very early in my time as CEO of ARMA I met Nuzhat Ali, who led on MSK public health at what was then Public Health England. Nuzhat is a tireless champion of the importance of MSK health and its central role in public health. “There’s no health without MSK health” she told the ARMA AGM a few years ago.

Steve Brine MP, Chair of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, was recently recently quoted as saying: “If we don’t prevent ill health in this country better than we are, then the NHS in itself is not sustainable and that is a terrifying situation.”…

Read more of this article

Have your say on the Musculoskeletal Advanced Practice and Governance Framework

Advanced Musculoskeletal (MSK) practice has been developing for many years, playing an integral part within the delivery of health services nationally. MSK practitioners work in diverse settings including emergency, rheumatology, persistent pain, paediatric and therapies, as well as in primary and community care and in MSK secondary care interface services.

Skills for Health is inviting feedback on a new core capability framework for MSK Advanced Practice and Governance. They are keen to hear from Advanced Practitioners, Advanced Practitioners in training, the wider healthcare team, employers, training providers, patients and carers to ensure the framework reflects what is needed in the sector.…

Read more of this article

Guest blog: Supporting people living with long term pain

What does the recent NICE guidance mean for pain clinics in this country?

Personal view from Alf Collins, Clinical Director for Personalised Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement

The recently published NICE guidance re: chronic pain management ¹ has enjoyed a mixed reception. The purpose of the guidance is to improve the lives of people living with long term pain by improving the quality of pain management services across the NHS but many commentators, patient groups and national professional bodies have not been slow to criticise it, citing that implementation could lead to significant patient harm.…

Read more of this article

MSK health course: a public health approach from PHE

A course developed and delivered by Public Health England’s leading experts on musculoskeletal health.

This course is for anyone who is interested in learning about the importance of maintaining good musculoskeletal health, and how conditions can be detected early and prevented.

A free online course hosted by FutureLearn.

Open the flyer for more details.

Health of people from ethnic minority groups

The Kings Fund has produced an explainer on the health of people from ethnic minority groups in England. Whilst this doesn’t include MSK health, it does include several relevant determinants of health including physical activity levels, obesity, healthy diet, socioeconomic inequalities and access to services.

The document concludes that strategies for improving the health of England’s ethnic minority communities need to address the multiple factors that have an impact on their health. It identifies four areas for focus:

The role of public health and NHS services
Addressing the wider determinants of health
Tackling structural racism
Data

Read the explainer.