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Endings and beginnings are bittersweet moments which allow us to reflect on what has been, review and plan for the future. It is with mixed feelings that I leave ARMA for pastures new. On taking up the role as Director I was eager for success, which in those days four years ago meant achieving a National Clinical Director, ring fenced funding for MSK and national targets. Time moves on and despite some success in these areas, the challenge was to identify the key stakeholders from clinicians, patient organisations, policy departments and parliaments, who could work together to promote and deliver optimal services for people living with MSK’s.
ARMA is at its strongest when we work together and the audit of the musculoskeletal service framework – “Joint working” provided an excellent start to our lobbying despite the findings of lack of implementation of the DH guidance. The soon to be published 2012 audit, Joint Delivery, shows some improvement but we still lag behind other disease areas. The Charter for work that was launched in Scotland, Wales and England was a great initiative which led to some wider alliance working with NHS Employers, RCN and the Work Foundation and championed by Professor Dame Carol Black. Together we have produced three new standards of care for foot health, JIA and now Gout out this week. Our musculoskeletal maps were the forerunner of the now much vaunted Atlas of Variation and have provided many a conversation in the corridors of power in England and the devolved nations.
Other areas like agreeing metrics have caused issues, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and we now have real progress in this area. The continual challenge of the lack of prioritisation for MSKs has been depressing despite the clear and consistent messaging we have achieved.
Our annual activity at the BSR conference has given me the opportunity to meet and engage with so many of you that otherwise might be just names on an e mail. We have some great meetings and stimulating dinners with key opinion leaders. The annual ARMA lecture which we instituted has been another opportunity to get our message across as a community.
Our on- going work producing the commissioning resource which is about to be uploaded onto the newly redesigned web site (thanks BT) and the embryonic work on establishing musculoskeletal clinical networks are exciting new ventures which hopefully will meet the needs of our members as we face these uncertain times. Much of our work could not have been undertaken without the support of the pharmaceutical industry, who have consistently been approachable and share so many of our objectives.
The NAO report into RA said – people living with these conditions are stoic, and that is certainly the case. I have been continually amazed by the resilience of our patient group members, people like Ailsa Bosworth for NRAS and Jane Dunnage from Lupus, role models for the community in their tireless fight for better access to service for people with these conditions.
So as I leave, I wish all the members of ARMA continued success in working together. Now is the time for unity of purpose as we face the financial challenges of the NHS to insure quality of care us not lost in the rush to save money.
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