Contribute to an inquiry about musculoskeletal health inequalities

[Debbie_kinsey]

The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Health Alliance are conducting a national inquiry about health inequalities in musculoskeletal health. You can find out what the inquiry is all about and how to get involved on our website here: lupusuk.org.uk/contribute-t...

[Turquoise-1]

Hi Debbie, thanks for posting this.

Chatting to various people on Lupus UK, it does seem that there is a lot of variation and no uniformity of this service across the UK. Each Primary Care & Secondary Care trust appear to operate differently.

Having been an orthopaedic patient for well over 40 years I have seen a lot of changes! Once upon a time, after initially seeing GP I’d then be referred straight to an Orthopaedic Surgeon. These days an O.S. is the last person you see, (unless it’s trauma related).

Advanced Psyhio Practitioners at GP practices, Specialist Spinal Physio Practitioners, (to name a few), alongside MSKC and Chronic Pain Clinics, IMPACT services & Anaesthetic Pain Clinics, in my experience, are how it is at the moment.

The Rheumatology Hospital I attend for my SLE Lupus works closely with the MSKC, they are in the same hospital plus out in community locations.

It would be fantastic if each and every patient right across the country could access and receive the same level of care, support & treatment.

Kind regards 🙂

[Debbie_kinsey Administrator LUPUS UK in reply to Turquoise-1]

Yes there often does seem to be a lot of variation in people's experiences. Hopefully an inquiry like this will help in providing more evidence for that and make some concrete recommendations for improvements. It sounds like your care teams working closely, and being in the same location, is a help for you. I'd definitely encourage you to submit your experiences, both good and bad, if you have the time - the more information they have from a wide variety of patients the better!