Improving the patient journey for people with musculoskeletal conditions (MSK)

MSK conditions affect the joints, bones and muscles and they also include autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

NHS organisations are working together across south east London to improve the patient journey for people with MSK conditions and have formed the south east London MSK Programme.

NEW!! Musculoskeletal (MSK) Community Day tackles muscle and joint pain and boosts wellbeing

The events are a chance for people on a routine MSK physiotherapy waiting list to have their muscle and joint pain assessed, learn about different treatments, diets, and exercises, and discover services in the area — including Lewisham Connections, Sydenham Gardens and UP! UP! Living Lighter, Live Well Community Hub, Versus Arthritis, Black Prince Trust, Southwark Citizens advice and much more — that could help improve other aspects of their lives.

Read more including attendees feedback from MSK Community Day - Lambeth here.

Below are some quotes from patients that attended

‘When at home I feels very anxious, and today I got encouragement to get motivated to see people and have conversations. I came to talk about my health, and I shared a tear and that is due to good conversations. The event like this is a good idea, you find all under one roof and you get a lot of ideas instead of sitting at home and waiting.’

‘I did not know what to expect. Today I learned a lots of different exercises and this is very good. Now I know who to call when I need help as many services are self-referral and I don’t need to go back to the GP.’

‘A really good event. I have spoken with variety of organisations some of them are very relevant to me.’

Emma James, the Musculoskeletal (MSK) Project Manager in the Planned Care Team for South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB) took the opportunity to tell us in a blog article about her learning from working with people and communities. Emma explained about the importance of working with people with lived experience to make quality improvement changes in the Musculoskeletal programmes in south east London.

‘I wanted to ensure that we incorporated lived experience voices from the start of the SEL MSK programme, not as a tick-box exercise, but as an‘ A really good event. I have spoken with variety of organisations some of them are very relevant to me’ (Dell – Southwark resident) integral part of the work.’ – said Emma.

Read Emma's blog - ‘My learnings from working with people with lived experience: it's more than just parking and waiting lists.’

Also you can find out from people with lived experience about their involvement journey and outcomes achieved in the Musculoskeletal programmes in south east London.

How people are involved?

• We conducted a patient experience survey. Further details and results can be found here.
• In March 2022 we held two workshops for local people to hear their experiences please see the summary of the discussion here.
• We are working with Community MSK Lived Experience Group on on-going bases to continue inform our work. Please see below more information and how you can join the group.

We are keen to continue to hear from people with lived experience of MSK conditions and have listed below ways that you can get involved:

• you can tell us about your experience here on the forum below by joining the conversation
• you can be involved in the community MSK and Orthopaedics lived experience group, please see more details below

Update!! Community MSK and Orthopaedics Lived Experience Group -

We are reviewing MSK services in south east London and would like to work with people with lived experiences of MSK conditions to inform this work. We have therefore created a community MSK lived experience group. The group was established in May 2022 and has met every 2-3 months to discuss topics relating to MSK pathways in South East London. Some of the achievements of the group include:

• Co-delivering personalised care training to clinicians across SEL.
• Co-designing a MSK community day https://www.selondonics.org/new-musculoskeletal-msk-community-day-tackles-muscle-and-joint-pain-and-boosts-wellbeing/
• Co-creating a guidance document for MSK clinic letters.

The group is now working closely with the Orthopaedics Network and therefore will be re-named the MSK and Orthopaedics lived experience group.

Who can be involved? Any adult that has had experience of MSK and Orthopaedic conditions, this might be as a patient, carer or family member.

What does this group involve? The meetings are virtually, once every quart for one hour on Microsoft Teams, please see more about the work so far on the right side of this page. There might also be an opportunity to be involved in other focus groups or surveys.

Please join our Community MSK and Orthopaedics lived experience group

If you would like to find out more or are interested in being part of this group, please contact us at engagement@selondonics.nhs.uk