NRAS One Year On Survey

2009 was a very good year for raising awareness in RA. We had the new NICE Guidelines which were very supportive and positive. We also had support from the Department of Health in the form of the Inflammatory Arthritis Commissioning Pathway, a tool that helps those that plan and purchase RA services, to ensure that they  buy and design what will provide a good quality service for local populations that they serve.

It is one thing to have all of this support and evidence, but it is quite another ensuring that this evidence is implemented locally. At NRAS, we decided to conduct a survey a year after all of the positive activity,  to see if anything had changed as a consequence. We asked an equal number of Consultant Rheumatologists and patients to take part in the survey and the results show that the picture is not as rosy as we would  like.

Please click here to download an abbreviated form of the survey response.

Treasury publishes governments response to the Public Accounts Committee Recommendations into RA Services.

The Treasury had to respond to the Public Accounts committee Enquiry into Rheumatology Services in England and this response is now available.

The Public Account Enquiry listed 9 key conclusions that it wanted the Government to address, these included for example:

• More GP training in musculoskeletal disease so that earlier recognition of the signs and symptoms of RA would lead to quicker referral to a specialist and more rapid diagnoses.
• Clarification should be provided by government to explain why there is so much discrepancy in PCT spend across England on RA services.

The Treasury’s response on behalf of the government was not very positive and we still have a lot of work to do if we are to make the improvements that are needed.

Please click here to read the 'Treasury Minutes on the Tenth to the Eleventh and the Fourteenth to the Thirty Second Reports from the Committee of Public Accounts Session 2009-10'