FIXING THE LEAK, NOT BUILDING A BIGGER BUCKET

FIXING THE LEAK, NOT BUILDING A BIGGER BUCKET

THINKING DIFFERENTLY FOR MSK HEALTH CONFERENCE

Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions are the leading cause of years lived with disability world wide and in the UK. You would not know that from the amount of attention they get compared with other health conditions such as cancer. The majority of MSK conditions do not kill, at least not directly. But the impact they have on people, communities and economies should not be underestimated.

MSK conditions are the second most common reason for work days lost in the UK

Our MSK health is fundamental to our ability to live active, healthy independent lives, to grow well, live well and age well. The pain and lack of mobility of MSK conditions leads people to reduce or give up work, prevents them caring for family members, and can lead to depression, anxiety and isolation.

The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) brings together patient and professional organisations to influence policy and practice in the UK for improved MSK health and services. In the last year we have seen the profile of MSK rising up the NHS agenda, in England at least. Some of this is due to the pandemic, and the backlog of care created at the hight of the pandemic. But it is also a recognition that MSK services as they existed were not fit for purpose. An ageing and increasingly inactive population meant rising need for everything from physiotherapy services to joint replacement surgery. Meeting this need simply with increasing capacity of services cannot be long term solution. We need to think differently.

We need to start with prevention. Many MSK conditions are not inevitable. There are significant differences in the incidence of osteoarthritis and back pain between areas of high deprivation and more affluent areas. These underlying determinants of health need to be tackled if we are to be able to provide vital services for people living with MSK conditions.

18.8 Million people in the UK have an MSK condition.

There are also inequalities in access to treatments. People in deprived areas, on average, wait longer for treatment than those in the least deprived areas. England’s NHS is now beginning to take this seriously and look at the reasons for this unequal access and seek solutions. Valuable lessons have been learned during the pandemic about engaging with communities to increase take up of the COVID-19 vaccine. This learning now needs to be applied to other health equality challenges.

Many people will live with these conditions long term. How they manage this will make a huge difference to how disabling the condition is. Instead of doing very little for people when they are first diagnosed, waiting until they need surgery or are in such severe pain that they need specialist input, we need to intervene early and support people to understand and manage their condition.

We have to think differently about MSK health. We cannot continue to deal with the leak by building a bigger bucket – we need to fix the leak.

All of these issues will be discussed and debated at our virtual conference on 6 December: Thinking Differently for MSK Health. There will be inspiring examples of where people are making a difference now, and how we can start to think very differently about MSK health and the support that people living with MSK conditions need. Speakers include Gareth Presch, Founder and CEO World Health Innovation Summit.

Details of the conference and our other activity and resources including webinars, reports and our monthly newsletter, can be found here: http://arma.uk.net/