The Devolved Nations
We have four very different health systems in the UK, and part of their work is to keep abreast of all the changes in all four countries.
Scotland
NRAS are already members of the
Long Term Conditions Alliance (LTCA) in Scotland and we are also working with both
Arthritis Care and the
Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) to help form the ‘Friends of Arthritis Scotland’.
By forming this alliance we hope to get out messages across to Scottish MSPs and health officials and speak with a louder voice to raise awareness of the issues we face in Scotland.
What we want to achieve in Scotland:
- One to one activity with Scottish MSPs as we do in England
- Support our members and their local health care professionals in ensuring that services are maintained and/or improved
- We have recently conducted a survey in Scotland on people with RA and its impact on their working lives, this work will form a major part of the campaigning work in Scotland in 2010, and we hope to have the results ready to launch by May 2010.
Wales
NHS Wales has just gone through a major restructuring process in 2009, so we decided at NRAS to wait until this restructuring had time to settle down.
Our Government Affairs Manager, Jenny Snell, has just returned from a very successful week in Wales where she met with a number of Assembly Members (AMs) and Welsh NHS officials. It is hoped that this will result in a number of questions being raised in the Welsh Assembly on the following issues:
- Lack of nursing time to ensure there are no waiting lists for drug administration
- Greater access to secondary care during a flare
- A more equitable service with regard to access to a multi disciplinary team approach
- Implementation of the NICE guidelines for RA
- To organise a pilot at a health board level which will lead to an innovative approach to manage and deliver long term condition services
Northern Ireland
The Parliamentary process in Northern Ireland has not been a smooth one through 2009 and this had made it difficult to establish relationships and to try speed up solutions that face RA services in Northern Ireland.
It is hoped that in 2010, now that the parliament is becoming more established, that the following issues can be addressed:
- The waiting list for patients that need to go onto anti-TNF treatment
- Equitable access to an RA service that is consultant led but has access to the different skills needed from a multi-disciplinary approach
England
To see our latest campaigns in England please
click here