NRAS sign open letter calling for Government to clarify social care bill wording
Maidenhead, UK, 9th
January 2012 - NRAS is one of over 40 organisations to
sign an open letter in The Times urging the Government to strengthen the Health
and Social Care Bill’s wording around service user involvement. NRAS
and its partner organisations would like to see greater assurances that
patients will be involved in shared decisions about the most appropriate
treatments, based on patient preferences and values as well as clinical
knowledge; personalised care planning, where professionals help patients to
organise care packages over time, including towards the end of life; and
support for people to manage chronic conditions in order to maximise their
quality of life.
Download document here: http://www.nationalvoices.org.uk/sites/www.nationalvoices.org.uk/files/letter_to_the_times.pdf
For
further media information, please contact:
Jamie Hewitt, Government Affairs Manager, National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society
Tel: 0845 458 3969, Email: jamie@nras.org.uk
Notes for Editors:
1. The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) was
launched in October 2001 and in a relatively short time has become established
as the campaigning voice in the UK for people with Rheumatoid
Arthritis. NRAS provides a total one-stop-shop with support,
information and advocacy for all people in the UK with RA, their carers and
families. NRAS has a national volunteer network, a group of people with
the disease who provide peer to peer support and provide additional resource to
help NRAS in many different ways.
2. RA is a chronic, progressive and disabling autoimmune
disease, which chiefly impacts upon joints but can also affect other organs
such as the heart, eyes and lungs. RA is often confused with osteoarthritis,
which is a different disease caused by wear and tear of the joints as we get
older. RA impacts heavily on people of working age affecting around 690,000 of
the UK adult population, with approximately 26,000 new diagnoses each year.