Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to increase awareness of (a) arthritis and (b) other musculoskeletal conditions; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England (PHE) work in partnership with NHS England, professional bodies, the Chief Fire Officers Association, Arthritis Research UK (ARUK), Work Foundation and other private sector system leaders to increase awareness of the prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.

PHE’s Chief Knowledge Directorate have worked collaboratively with ARUK to develop a set of local authority briefings on osteoarthritis based on data from ARUK’s MSK Calculator[1]. A musculoskeletal domain has also been created within PHE’s National General Practice Profiles[2]. The Burden of Disease for England was published by PHE in September 2015, which provides analytics on MSK.

PHE has commissioned and developed a series of resources and tools to raise awareness amongst professionals and the public of Arthritis and MSK conditions such as; a British Medical Journal e-learning module on the benefits of physical activity for osteoarthritis and lower back pain, which has been highly valued by clinicians; a public facing falls prevention booklet.

[1]http://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/policy-and-public-affairs/policy-priorities-and-projects/musculosketal-health-services/the-musculoskeletal-calculator.aspx

[2]http://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/general-practice/data#mod,1,pyr,2014,pat,19,par,E38000001,are,-,sid1,2000009,ind1,-,sid2,-,ind2,-