Real progress was made towards improving clinical outcomes for people with RA with the publication of NICE Clinical Guideline 79 and the 18-week Commissioning Pathway for Inflammatory Arthritis by the Department of Health.
The Public Accounts Committee also took evidence for a report it would publish in 2010 concerning NHS services for people with RA. A variety of cross-functional and multi-disciplinary initiatives, epitomised by the work of the Rheumatology Futures Group, showed a real desire to educate patients, the public and healthcare professionals alike, to optimise rheumatology service provision in the UK and to work together to improve the quality and standard of care. Similarly, our parliamentary and political campaigning work uncovered a real appetite amongst policy-makers, politicians and other stakeholders, to work with the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) to drive these changes and improve patients’ lives.
However, while significant progress was being made in policy terms, both the King’s Fund and the National Audit Office (NAO) published influential reports which highlighted serious shortcomings in service provision for people with RA; and a worrying lack of awareness about RA amongst the public, health professionals and commissioners.
As a result, NRAS decided to produce this report, to show the impact of these initiatives “one year on”.
Please click here to download the report (PDF)
No comments:
Post a Comment