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ARMA is the umbrella body providing a collective voice for the arthritis and musculoskeletal community in the UK.
Together, ARMA and its member organisations work to improve quality of life for more than 9.6 million people in the UK with these conditions.
Welcome to my blog – the idea is to provide you with some insights into what is happening currently within the musculoskeletal community in the UK. It will hopefully be varied and wide-ranging, including news, research developments, updates on care standards and progress on our campaigns which effect the whole of the musculoskeletal community. We welcome your input and views –
Arthritis and related musculoskeletal conditions affect one in 5 people in the UK, causing pain and disability.
They can strike at any age, from infancy onwards. They cost society billions each year in health and social costs, lost employment, benefits; and they cost many individuals their independence and quality of life. There are many myths about these conditions – but the most damaging of all is that nothing can be done.
Something can always be done – be it providing details of a local support group, or designing a service which means that people see the right specialist at the right time.
As part of ARMA’s Standards of Care project, a group of people with a range of musculoskeletal conditions has come together to identify what needs to happen in health services to enable them to minimise the pain and disability of arthritis, and to help people remain independent. They have suggested reasonable expectations of care and services for all people with musculoskeletal conditions. People have a right to:
Access to appropriate services for all people with musculoskeletal conditions
Our site has shifted from a static content website to a blog type where we are better able to accommodate information updates, provide news feeds, on-line forums and generate targeted newsletters of interest to individuals. If you wish to contribute to this development please join our Website Forum.
To provide a service to the arthritis and musculoskeletal community, we rely on contributions from our members and users. You can follow changes to the site by subscribing to ARMA ePostcards or our Daily/weekly newsletters.
We aim to help of our members, volunteers, local partners, policy makers and private sector partners by providing on-line forums. With your help we are able to pool our efforts and expand our knowledge and activities in the UK and internationally. We are aware that a global effort is needed, and we are part of a network of organisations coordinating efforts to arthritis and musculoskeletal community. Together we can make a difference.
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The Cochrane Library - Special collections
NEW: Exercise for musculoskeletal conditions
Musculoskeletal conditions frequently have an adverse influence on health and quality of life, and cause more functional limitations than any other group of disorders within the adult population in most developed countries. Estimates from global data indicate that one in four people will experience chronic musculoskeletal pain at some time, and that musculoskeletal conditions are the most commonly reported cause of chronic impairments in the United States. Thus, musculoskeletal conditions are ...
Transforming Patient Experience: the essential guide – available now!
Transforming Patient Experience: the essential guide is suitable for anyone with designated responsibility for improving patient experience – either as a provider of services or as a commissioner.
It contains practical guidance and covers the crucial aspects of:
The importance of organisational culture
Making the case for a patient experience improvements
Helping leaders and staff to improve patient experience
How to organise a patient experience programme
Commissioning for a positive patient experience
The resource includes the full research findings ...
National Joint Registry - Patient Focus Conference
Free event on 23rd March
From 9.30am to 2pm including lunch at THE WELLCOME COLLECTION
183 EUSTON ROAD, LONDON NW1 2BE
There will be short presentations to begin with from NJR members including clinicians to highlight NJR’s role and how we are working for patient safety. These will be followed by two more detailed workshops, one looking at our Public & Patient Guide and another, looking in more detail at NJR data and understanding the findings. The event will conclude ...
Improving access to NICE approved drugs
NICE is to produce a best practice guide to help trusts develop local formularies, as part of a move to ensure that all patients in England have access to clinically and cost-effective drugs.
Local formularies provide a list of selected or preferred drugs available to local prescribers and have an important role in underpinning safe and effective use of medicines.
However, there is currently no standard process or advice for putting together a local formulary which has ...
Healthcare & Education Officer
The Paget’s Association, the UK’s only charity supporting people with Paget’s disease of bone, is looking to recruit a Healthcare & Education Officer to build on the excellent work done by the current post holder.
We are looking for an exceptional individual educated to degree level who is able to play a key role in the following areas:
developing the Association’s health and education programmes and education strategy
operating and monitoring a help line
developing and delivering health education programmes to ...
New ARMA website
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website!
Our goal with the redesign of our website was to make the information that we give to you easier to find and more timely. If you have any questions or comments about the site in general, or anything in particular, please let us know.
New Features
The website includes interactive features that will allow members and user to sign up for our monthly newsletter A4T.
The home page also features ...
PSALV Exhibition in Hollyrood - ‘Under the Spotlight’
PSALV Exhibited in Holyrood from 24th-27th October, showcasing DVDS of their ‘Under the Spotlight’ FILM, which feature patients living with psoriasis and PsA.
There was also in a supplement in the Guardian for ‘World psoriasis Day’-29th October.
We had many photographs taken with many MSPs including the Public Health Minister, and Alex Salmond. This photograph is a picture of Michael Matheson, MSP and Janice Johnson, Chair, PSALV.
PSALV are The Scottish members of International Federation of Psoriasis Associations
Move ...
NASS on This Morning
NASS is delighted that Adam Rickitt, Actor, and Dr Raj Sengupta, NASS Trustee and Consultant Rheumatologist at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases sat on the sofa with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on ITV1's This Morning programme on Wednesday 9 November 2011 talking about ankylosing spondylitis.
This is the first time that AS has been covered on national television which is fantastic and gives NASS a real platform to further educate the general public on the symptoms, treatment and management for AS.
Adam, who is ...
Guidance to help commissioners and providers of health and social care deliver high quality, cost effective education, training and continuous development to the workforce through the use of technology is published today.
Department of Health -11.11.11
A framework for technology enhanced learning
A framework for technology enhanced learning identifies six key principles recommending that technology used as part of a learning solution for the benefit of patients should:
be patient centred and service driven
be educationally coherent
be innovative and evidence based
deliver high quality educational ...
Learning How Gut Bacteria Influence Health:
Scientists Crack Sparse Genome of Microbe Linked to Autoimmunity
ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2011)
Scientists have deciphered the genome of a bacterium implicated as a key player in regulating the immune system of mice. The genomic analysis provides the first glimpse of its unusually sparse genetic blueprint and offers hints about how it may activate a powerful immune response that protects mice from infection but also spurs harmful inflammation.
The researchers, led by Dan Littman, the Helen L. ...
The third Annual Fit for Work Europe Conference
The third Annual Fit for Work Europe Conference took place on Wednesday 19 October 2011 in Brussels, endorsed by the Polish Presidency of the EU.
Attracting over 170 delegates from across Europe, including healthcare professionals, policy makers, patients, employers and trade unions, this year's conference was the most successful ever.
The central theme of the conference was ‘Change with Us: Practical steps and solutions towards making musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs) a health and work priority at ...
The ARMA Newsletter A4T is sent on a monthly basis and includes information about upcoming events, project updates and recent news stories from our members. Additionally A4T can be downloaded from this site as a .PDF document, or you can view on-line under the About Arma menu.
If you subscribe you can receive an email, under your profile select subscriptions, then click the A4T box. At any time you can remove your subscription. Your email addresses will not be passed onto any other ...
30 Charities call on David Nicholson to endorse the New Principles for Integrated Care.
To read the report
Summary
MORE than 30 national charities have written to Sir David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS in England, asking him to endorse National Voices’ Principles for Integrated Care, which are launched on Tuesday 25 October.
The Health and Social Care Bill 2011 will give duties to secure or promote integrated services to both commissioners and regulators.
The 12 Principles have been developed by patient organisations, all ...
World Arthritis Day
The official World Arthritis Day is celebrated on 12 October, although campaigning continues around the year.
The aims of World Arthritis Day are to raise awareness of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) amongst the medical community, people with RMDs and the general public.
To influence public policy by making decision-makers aware of the burden of RMDs and the steps which can be taken to ease it.
To ensure all people with RMDs and their caregivers are aware of the vast support ...
The ARMA website contains information about standards, best practice, health policy, commissioning of services and news and activities of our membership.
A core aim for ARMA is tofoster co-operation, understanding and mutual support between individuals and organisations. User you mouse to select one of the orginisations..
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