Managing MSKs while waiting for treatment

Managing your MSK conditions while waiting for treatments

TWO periods of national lockdown have seen people working from makeshift home offices and being less active, with many afraid to use NHS services.

The ability to bounce back and resume “normal” health services – especially routine surgery and procedures – has been problematical. Following the spring lockdown, MSK services returned far too slowly according to the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA)1, who have warned about the impact on individual health and recovery of the economy.

ARMA chief executive Sue Brown said: “Looking at the proportion of normal elective care provided in August by speciality, orthopaedics and rheumatology both fall in the bottom four specialities. This is not acceptable.

“Waiting in pain impacts people’s physical and mental health and ability to work. Delays in accessing treatment such as joint replacement surgery can have long-term serious impacts on health.”

Learning from experience

Now, as we emerge from a second lockdown, it is hoped the lessons have been learned. ARMA, along with other stakeholders, has worked with NHS England to listen to the experience of people living with MSK conditions and identify

Image: katemangostar Patient member organisations are providing peer support innovations which may help through the coming months. These are being published on the NHS Change Challenge website2 .

While not a replacement for NHS services, ARMA’s patient member organisations are providing vital additional support including advice, information, peer support, online groups and networks. It is important to ensure patients know these resources exist.

The MSK Lived Experience Group has collated intelligence from a range of sources to find out the impact on people living with MSK conditions and produced a report of the themes that emerged. National Voices3 has also produced a report: “What We Need Now”. This examines what matters to people for health and care, during Covid-19 and beyond, and includes recommendations for system leaders and those designing and delivering services.

People who are waiting can do things to support themselves and there are resources that can help. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy webpage4 signposts people to online resources.

Sue Brown adds: “People most want to know what is happening. They want to know how long they might be waiting, what they can do while they wait, and they want to be reassured that they are not forgotten. If people are offered treatment, they also need to have the measures that will be taken to keep them safe explained.” 1) www.arma.uk.net 2) https://nhschangechallenge.crowdicity.com 3) www.nationalvoices.org.uk 4) www.csp.org.uk/conditions/managing-pain-home

New MSK care pathway for diagnostic clinicians

FOLLOWING the introduction of first contact MSK physiotherapy roles in primary care, a new career pathway with an educational training “road map” has been launched by Health Education England (HEE).

The scheme sets out a route into MSK primary care roles for first contact practitioners and advanced practitioners. All clinicians completing the required training via a portfolio or a taught route will be recognised and held on a directory of practitioners at the HEE Centre for Advancing Practice.

In a blog to launch the roadmap, Amanda Hensman-Crook, an HEE AHP national clinical fellow, said: “For the first time, physiotherapy undergraduates will be able to see primary care as a career choice and a developmental journey from the day they register with the HCPC.

“This is a great opportunity for structured CPD and to have recognition of meeting the new standard of practice in primary care.”

HEE has stipulated that, from April 2022, all clinicians must have completed the required training prospectively and retrospectively before taking up primary care roles.

To work in primary care means working with complexity, uncertainty, co-morbidity, polypharmacy, frailty, public health, mental health, long-term conditions and safeguarding. All of which inform an MSK assessment and form a diagnosis and management plan for the patient. www.hee.nhs.uk www.csp.org.uk

Osteopaths should be used to help high demand for MSK care, says report

EARLY involvement of osteopaths within NHS MSK services could significantly improve service delivery and patient care, says a new report1 .

An independent panel of healthcare professionals, chaired by Professor Adrian Newland, has authored the report on the role of osteopaths as Allied Health Professionals within the NHS, and Osteopaths to respond to CPD evaluation survey

THE General Osteopathic

Council’s annual (CPD) evaluation survey is now open, presenting a chance for osteopaths to provide feedback on the practice – including the impact of

COVID-19 – and to discuss the future resource needs.

Last year’s survey received over 450 responses, which helped the GOC to develop tools to meet new challenges faced by the profession.

The survey will run until 31 January 2021.

www.osteopathy.org.uk

their potential to provide much needed additional capacity to the delivery of NHS MSK services to improve patient care.

The panel investigated examples of where osteopaths work within the NHS, their contribution to multidisciplinary teams and impact on patient care, and the barriers and challenges on the ability to increase integration of the profession within the NHS.

Commenting on the findings, Maurice Cheng, chief executive of the Institute of Osteopathy, said: “The NHS Long Term Plan recognised the need to move to a new service model in which patients get more options, better support and properly joined-up care at the right time in the optimal care setting. These ambitions were also echoed within the recently published NHS People Plan, calling for the health service to make effective use of the full range of our people’s skills and experience to deliver the best possible patient care.

“Osteopaths are particularly well-placed to support these ambitions and provide the capacity and expertise to help support the delivery of patient care and outcomes. At this current time, when the demand on MSK care is exceptionally high, we are calling for osteopaths to be used more widely to provide early assessment and intervention for patients.” 1) The role of osteopaths as allied health professionals within the

NHS www.iosteopathy.org

Properly joined-up care at the right time should be available to patients