self-management

Health Inequalities – the wider context and challenges to a self-management approach

by Noha Al-Afifi, Interim CEO, Arthritis Action

There’s no doubt from the ARMA Act Now report that the current tough economic environment is exacerbating inequalities in healthcare provision and access. With the scale of the task, it could be easy to get overwhelmed by the challenge. As important is that the report urges all to recognise the wider context and environment in which healthcare sits and to encourage small scale, localised action plans.

Helping both our members and the wider public to take control of their arthritis has inevitably led us to provide resources beyond health advice.…

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NASS at the EULAR Congress

The National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) will be at EULAR Congress to present on their supported self-management for people living with axial SpA.

Programme Manager Zoë Clark will present in the session ‘Exploring self-management: definitions and life’ on Saturday, 15 June 2024 at 11.45am.

If you’re attending EULAR and would like to meet to discuss the NASS Supported Self-management Programme, please get in touch with Zoë at zoe@nass.co.uk.

Webinar: MSK waiting list self-management support

“How to implement self-management support for MSK patients on waiting lists”

Join a live webinar with getUBetter as they share their insights on how to implement digital self-management support for musculoskeletal (MSK) patients on waiting lists.

12% of the UK adult population is on a waiting list, with 10,000 waiting for a T&O operation across an Integrated Care System (ICS). The length of waiting lists, persistent pain, and deconditioning are all a problem. There’s an absolute need to provide evidence-based locally configured peri-operative self-management support and safety netting for patients on waiting lists, wherever they are waiting in the system.…

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Self-management and health inequalities

by Sue Brown, CEO ARMA

I’ve been talking a lot about self-management recently. We’ve had conflicting views through our MSK health inequalities inquiry – does it help address inequalities or exacerbate them?

It seems that it partly depends on what you mean by self-management. One of our lived experience partners said, “self-management is code for you’re on your own.” There is some suspicion amongst both people living with MSK conditions and health care professionals that this is the case, which can lead to resistance to uptake in the NHS.…

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Your SpAce is launched

The National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society (NASS) has launched Your SpAce, which has been created in partnership with people living with axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA) and healthcare professionals.

Your SpAce allows people living with axial SpA to engage with their condition, learn more about axial SpA, and build skills to manage the impact it has on their life.

The programme is free to access on the NASS website and YouTube channel. It includes co-produced, short informative videos on topics such as pain, fatigue and flares.…

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Community-powered MSK Health?

It’s been exciting in the last two years to be working with the BestMSK Health team at NHS England, and now also with MSK improvement work in Wales. There’s been lots of talk about co-production, self-management support, reducing inequalities and a focus on prevention. The direction is very much one that ARMA can support. Then I read A Community Powered NHS from New Local and I started to wonder if we are being brave enough, going far enough, thinking big enough.…

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Decision support tools published

Shared decision making tools NHS England has published a suite of eight decision support tools covering varying conditions along with guidance on how to use them and evaluating the impact.

Four of these relate to MSK conditions:

Decision support tools (DSTs), also called patient decision aids, support shared decision making (SDM) by making treatment, care and support options explicit, providing evidence-based information about the associated benefits and risks, and helping people to consider what matters most to them in relation to the possible outcomes, including doing nothing.…

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Embedding personalised care within MSK-integrated services

by Dr Chloe Stewart, health psychologist and national clinical advisor in personalised care, NHS England

It’s strange how certain moments in life stay with you, etched in your memory while others disappear forever. Sometimes the things we remember are not the big things but small and seemingly insignificant moments. I remember a distinct moment during my health psychology training, some twenty years ago now, when I realised just how much more needs to be done to ensure a shift in power between healthcare professionals and patients.…

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Arthritis: the impact on daily life

Arthritis Action launches report on working aged people with arthritis

Arthritis Action has launched new research with YouGov to explore the experiences of people of working age in Great Britain who live with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. YouGov carried out an online survey of 2,120 people aged 25 to 65 living with the conditions, comparing the results to a similar survey conducted by YouGov (for Arthritis Action), in 2018 to see how their situations have changed since the pandemic.

The results gave a good picture of people’s concerns, the impact of arthritis on their daily lives, and how they felt they could be helped further by employers and support services.…

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Not just another NHSE initiative

I have just returned from the BSR conference where it was good to catch up with ARMA members, key stakeholders and make new connections. Watching the contributions of patient organisations to the conference I was struck again by the huge role that the voluntary sector can play in good MSK health.

So, it is good to see this feature increasingly in the BestMSK Health messaging. Phrases such as “consider referral to third sector/voluntary sector for ongoing management rehabilitation and support” appear in many of the programme’s resources.…

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