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ANDREW GEORGE MP HOSTED DROP IN SESSION AT THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

Andrew George MP hosted a drop in session at the House of Commons on 6 July to publicise the work of NASS and the findings of the new NASS report 'Looking Ahead: best practice for the care of people with ankylosing spondylitis'. Members of NASS, contributors to Looking Ahead and NASS trustees and staff mingled with members of Parliament who came to hear first hand from their constituents what it is like to live with AS and what the barriers are that prevent people with AS receiving the treatment they need.

For coverage of the event in the trade press please see the following link:

Medical News Today (07/07/10)

Claire Harris

(NASS trustee & physiotherapist),

Liz van Rossen (contributor & physiotherapist) and Sarah Bazin (President of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy)

Helena Marzo Ortega (contributor & consultant rheumatologist) with 2 NASS members

Caroline Flint, MP for Brighton meets constituent & NASS trustee Stephen Dean

Andrew George MP chats to a constituent

Andrew George talks to NASS trustees at the drop-in session

Posted: 20 July 2010

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EARLY DAY MOTION: RAISING AWARENESS FOR AS

NASS is very grateful to the MP for St Ives,  Andrew George,  for tabling an Early Day Motion (EDM) to raise awareness of AS among MPs in the new Parliament and to draw attention to the findings of the NASS report, Looking Ahead: best practice for the care of people with AS.  You can do your bit to raise awareness by emailing your own MP to them to tell them about the EDM and asking them to sign it.

Note: EDMs are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons.  Very few EDMs are actually debated.  Instead, they are used for reasons such as publicising the views of individual MPs, drawing attention to specific events or campaigns and demonstrating the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view. Definition source:  www.parliament.uk.

Posted: July 2010

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WHIPPS CROSS HOSPITAL'S NEW

EARLY INFLAMMATORY BACK PAIN SERVICE: A FIRST IN THE UK

Whipps Cross University NHS Hospital has launched an Early Inflammatory Back Pain Service. The service will provide a screening assessment of patients with suspected inflammatory back pain who are referred by their GP or hospital consultant, in order to facilitate the early assessment and diagnosis of AS. Patients diagnosed with AS will then have access to prompt and targeted treatment and management of their condition. Read more about this service in the Whipps Cross Hospital press release.

NASS welcomes the news of this service as a positive move towards earlier diagnosis and access to appropriate treatment and care, two of the main issues highlighted in the two reports published by NASS recently, Looking Ahead: and Working with AS. Click on the following titles to read more:

Posted: 5 July 2010

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BMA WELCOMES PRESCRIPTION CHARGE REVIEW AS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION AND REPEATS CALL FOR ABOLITION

Professor Ian Gilmore’s review of prescription charges, published on Thursday 27 May, 2010 recommends an extension of the list of conditions that are exempt, and a review of wider policy “with an open mind towards either abolishing prescription charges altogether, or wider reform”.

Commenting on the review, Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council at the BMA, says:

“The prescription charge system that presently applies in England is a mess.  It is full of anomalies and runs counter to the principle of an NHS that is free at the point of use.

“These proposals are a step in the right direction and, as such, are to be welcomed.  However, changes to the system short of abolition would still be unfair on the reduced number of patients who do not qualify for exemption.  They would also run the risk of adding to bureaucracy, and increasing GPs’ workload.

“Wales and Northern Ireland have abolished prescription charges, and Scotland is in the process of doing so.  The BMA believes that England should follow suit.

“We recognise the financial pressures on the NHS, and that prescription charges do raise a modest amount of revenue but they do so unfairly.  The system is costly to administer, and as this review states, removing prescription charges could result in reduced hospital admissions, saving the NHS millions a year.

“We really have to question whether the small financial benefit of retaining charges outweighs the many disadvantages of taxing the sick.”

The full report by Professor Ian Gilmore is available to read by clicking on the following link:Prescription Charges Review

Posted: Wednesday 2 June 2010


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NEW BENEFIT SYSTEM FOR DISABLED PEOPLE

'WRONGLY FINDING PEOPLE FIT TO WORK'

The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday 26 May 2010 reported on problems administering the new Employment Support Allowance (ESA). One of the architects of a new benefit system for disabled people has urged the Government to delay rolling it out after evidence that medical tests are wrongly finding thousands of people fit for work.

More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of people applying for ESA are being rejected on the grounds that their disability does not prevent them from working, a BBC investigation revealed.

The figure is almost 20 per cent more than predicted by the Government when it launched ESA to replace Incapacity Benefit 18 months ago. Read the full story here.

Posted: Thursday 27 May 2010

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'ARTHRITIS HURTS' - NEW ARTHRITIS CARE PAIN SURVEY SUMMARY OF FINDINGS


Arthritis Care has just published the summary of findings of a comprehensive survey of people with all forms of arthritis in the UK focusing on their pain.

As the biggest cause of physical disability in the UK, arthritis affects up to 10 million people, including 12,000 children, and accounting for 30% of GP visits. It carries a huge economic cost as well as a human and social cost, estimated at £7 billion annually in terms of lost labour in 2007.

It is the most common cause of chronic pain in the UK with pain being the most common symptom of living with arthritis.

The purpose of the survey aimed to find out how pain affects everyday  life in order to raise public awareness and to provide more information to people with arthritis who live with pain everyday, and to help those treating people living with pain to better understand the issues people with arthritis face in their daily lives. Click here to read the summary report.

Wednesday 26 May 2010

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PRESCRIPTION CHARGE COALITION URGES PATIENTS TO CONTINUE PRESSURE

Over 3,000 ‘Prescription Promise’ supporters recently emailed their MP asking them to support the campaign for Gordon Brown to keep his promise to scrap prescription charges for people with long-term conditions in England. 212 MPs have now signed Early Day Motion 306 calling on the government to keep its promise. Press coverage of the campaign also increased thanks to the hundreds of emails sent to local newspapers. Now we must keep up the pressure during the general election campaign. Use the following link to read the full story and find out how you can help:

Prescription Promise Update

Friday 16 April 2010

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YELLOW CARD SCHEME TO ENSURE SAFE USE OF MEDICINES

AND MEDICAL DEVICES

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe.

As part of ongoing safety monitoring work, the MHRA and the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) run a Yellow Card Scheme which collects reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs).

Everyone is encouraged to use the Yellow Card Scheme to report suspected ADRs to help identify potential safety issues. Using robust and fact-based judgements we ensure that the benefits to patients outweigh the risks, and take any necessary regulatory action to protect them if there is a problem. Suspected ADRs can be reported online (www.yellowcard.gov.uk) or by post. If you have any concerns or urgent matters that you wish to discuss, you can call the CHM free phone on 0800 731 6789.

Tuesday 23 February 2010

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TWO NEW GENES INVOLVED IN AS DISCOVERED

Two new genes, ANTXR2 and IL1R2, have been identified by an international team of scientists lead by Professor Wordsworth, University of Oxford. The new genes are strongly associated with susceptibility to AS and provide the foundation for future research to pin down the genetic causes of this condition. Use the following links to read more. Professor Wordsworth will also provide a genetic research update for NASS members in the next issue of AS News.

BBC Health News: Hope for spine fusing arthritis

netdoctor: Two new genes involved in inflammatory arthritis

Monday 18 January 2010

ADNFCR-554-ID-19549638-ADNFCR

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UNIVERSITY OF SWANSEA

STUDY OF PEOPLE WITH AS IN WALES UPDATE

Researchers at the School of Medicine at Swansea University have been working on an all-Wales project to study ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and the progression of the disease, with the aim of being able to prevent severe AS.

The study has recruited around 500 people living in Wales with AS to date, who have been willing to help improve the understanding of ankylosing spondylitis by completing questionnaires on their experiences of living with the condition. Researchers are aiming to recruit 2,000 people to ensure best possible results for the study.

In addition to the information participants provide via postal or online questionnaires, the study will be enhanced by linking with routinely collected health data, such as GP records, in-patient and out-patient data that is held by the Health Information Research Unit (HIRU) at Swansea University.  The routinely collected health data is held in a way so that records cannot be identified by researchers and so all data is treated confidentially.  

The researchers at Swansea University would like to thank all the participants who have volunteered to take part in the study for their time and effort which is greatly appreciated and highly valued in studying AS.

Anyone who has not yet taken part and would like to do so should visit the study website for further information:

www.ashealth.co.uk

Or contact Liz Irvine (Tel: 01792 295621 or email e.m.irvine@swansea.ac.uk).

Last Updated: 25 June 2010

Date: 21 April 2009

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