The Work Foundation - Inflammatory Arthritis Expert Summit

The Work Foundation Inflammatory Arthritis (IA) Expert Summit was held courtesy of Linda Riordan MP, Chair of the Chronic Pain All Party Group, at the House of Commons on 12th September 2011.

Inflammatory arthritis is the term used to describe a range of autoimmune conditions, in which the body’s immune system attacks the joints and causes them to become inflamed. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of these conditions, affecting 580,000 people in England, and was used as the summit’s discussion condition.

The summit, sponsored by Abbott, was called to enable experts from the NHS, patient groups and politicians, to come together in the light of the recent NHS reforms, to discuss what levers can be used to increase prioritisation of appropriate treatments and care for arthritis patients in order to achieve good health and functional outcomes, such as work; and to ensure that the emerging NHS structures, including the NHS Outcomes Framework and Quality Standards, suitably account for, and prioritise services for, people with inflammatory arthritis.

The objective of the summit was to provide practical, focused recommendations, endorsed by the attending experts, for policy makers and implementers, including commissioners, so that IA patients are provided with appropriate care, service provision and treatment to ensure they can experience optimal outcomes, including returning to or remaining in the workplace as a functional outcome. The Work Foundation’s Body and Soul report indicates that work, particularly ‘good work,’ is good for health and good for recovery. Furthermore, being able to work is often identified by patients as a valued wider societal outcome.

Click here to read the summary of the summit's discussions.