Increasing Arthritis Awareness
Initiatives in 2014 to increase Arthritis Awareness
The NHS landscape changed with
the creation of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. This means the greater
need for collaboration between GPs, specialists and patients. Together, the aim
is for new care pathways that deliver benefit to patients. In arthritis, key to
the success of the care pathway is the early recognition of arthritis. This is
done by increasing awareness of arthritis.
The benefits of increased awareness include earlier
recognition, diagnosis, referral and treatment of a potentially painful and
disabling condition. Earlier diagnosis and treatment will lead to better
outcomes.
All of this work would not have been possible without the
help of members of my rheumatology unit and the teams involved in the many
events in 2014. This includes patient
groups who have been very supportive of the drive to increase arthritis
awareness.
Over 2014, my department hosted GP
events that focused on topics that included early inflammatory arthritis, polymyalgia
rheumatica, osteoporosis, gout and the spondyloarthropathies. This was geared
for colleagues in primary care, to increase awareness and improve referral to
specialists. It is important to approach this from the perspective of GPs. A
recent posting by Paula Wright in the BMJ has been helpful http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/advice-overview.html
In May, I chaired an Inflammatory
Back Pain (IBP) seminar for GPs, nurses and physiotherapists. This is to
increase awareness of IBP which is a feature of ankylosing spondylitis (AS).
The message is that not all back is the same. Early detection of AS will
improve long term outcomes.
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| With the team at the Back Pain Seminar |
In July, there was public engagement
with the ‘Don’t Turn Your Back On It’ campaign. This initiative was supported
by the National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society (NASS). The team spoke to many
people in Reading Town Centre on inflammatory back pain. There were acrobats to
highlight the event on the day.
 |
| With Sue Hicks, Specialist Physiotherapist in Reading Town Centre |
In October,
the Reading Fibromyalgia Society held their first anniversary celebration at Prospect
Park Hospital in Reading. I and other members of the Rheumatology Team were
able to support this. The event was attended by Alok Sharma, MP for Reading
West and also by Cllr. Sarah Hacker, Reading Deputy Mayor. See their blogs on
this event:
In November,
two seminars were held to increase awareness of arthritis. A public seminar was
organised by the Royal Berkshire Hospital for members on early arthritis and
rheumatoid arthritis. The event was also attended by the National Rheumatoid
Arthritis Society (NRAS) http://www.nras.org.uk/
 |
| With the NRAS at the Trust Public Seminar on rheumatoid arthritis |
In the same
month, there was a GP teaching event on topics such as early referral to
specialists, what to look out for, how to manage arthritis in primary care.
There was also a practical session on how to perform the disease activity score
28 (DAS28), an outcome measure used in rheumatoid arthritis. We were supported
by our local arthritis charity, Arthritis Matters for this event http://www.arthritismattersreading.co.uk/
 |
| GP Teaching event to increase awareness of arthritis |
November
was a busy month as it was also the month that the National Ankylosing
Spondylitis Society (NASS) organised the parliamentary event to raise awareness
of the need to increase access to physiotherapy. This is the next step of the
NASS As It Is campaign http://nass.co.uk/news/as-it-is---next-steps-in-the-campaign/?keywords=as+it+is
 |
| With Debbie Cook, NASS Director |
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| At the NASS event with the team from Portsmouth |
In 2015,
more such events are planned to continue the drive to increase awareness of
arthritis. Rheumatology needs a voice and together, our efforts no matter how
small or big, will go towards improving patient access and care. This is A Joint Venture.
@synovialjoints
Views are my
own. These are opinions, not specific medical advice and cannot replace the
need to see your physician for review of your individual medical condition.
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