Our technical reports include summaries of key findings and recommendations for policy and practice, and are now available to download!
We currently have two reports available:
Improving support to work resources for people living with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions
Online Work Support Resources Report
Technical Report Series (2024/002) - July 2024
Rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions greatly impact people’s working lives, including conditions such as inflammatory arthritis (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis), rare autoimmune conditions such as lupus and vasculitis, and other painful conditions such as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. They are one of the most common causes of days lost from work in the UK and people deciding to stop work earlier than intended.
While resources are available to help healthcare professionals better support their patients to work, people living with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions report their health consultations are mainly focused on medical aspects of their condition, and that work issues are rarely discussed.
This report explores the awareness and use of work-related support services amongst people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions and availability of online work resources provided by UK musculoskeletal charities. It aims to identify areas for improvement to access to work support resources for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.
Read the report here.
Meeting the care priorities of people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions: priorities for action.
RHEUMAPS Care Priority Report
Technical Report Series (2024/001) - July 2024
Where people live can present a significant challenge to delivering timely and equitable healthcare. To effectively plan local and national services to meet the needs of people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), we need to understand how many people have these conditions, who they are, where they live and how this relates to existing services. It is also important to understand people’s care priorities, recognising that these might be different for different groups of patients, and what resources and services people feel are important, missing, or could be improved.
This report summarises the priorities for care of people living with a broad range of RMDS across the UK and the resources and services needed to meet these needs. It outlines a number of policy and practice recommendations to address the gaps identified.
Read the report here.
You can find out more about both of these reports on our Technical Reports and Summaries page here.