Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to encourage Integrated Care Systems to adopt the recommendations set out in Versus Arthritis’ recent publication, Supporting people with arthritis waiting for surgery, including (a) clear communication with people on waiting lists, (b) personalised pain self-management support, (c) physical activity programmes, (d) mental health support and (e) signposting to financial support and employment advice.

Once fully implemented, integrated care systems (ICSs) will strengthen partnerships between the National Health Service, local authorities and the voluntary sector. NHS England and NHS Improvement are already working with regional colleagues and ICS musculoskeletal (MSK) leads, to accelerate the restoration of elective care and optimise both access and outcomes. This includes working with Versus Arthritis through the Best MSK Health Collaborative, Outpatient Transformation and Elective Care, Personalised Care and Children’s and Young Persons programmes.

An online resource has been developed to help patients, including those with arthritis, to manage both the physical and mental health implications of their condition, including pain self-management, at home. This guide is available at the following link:

www.csp.org.uk/conditions/managing-pain-home

Public Health England (PHE) is also providing training and resources to support healthcare professionals (HCPs) to have conversations with their patients about the benefits of keeping active. The Moving Medicine resource is at the following link:

https://movingmedicine.ac.uk/

There is also information available online for patients who have to stop or reduce work to part-time as a result of rheumatoid arthritis and the financial support they may be entitled to, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/living-with/