15th January 2024
Grantham Joint Aches and Pains Hub
Over 150 people arrived at the Grantham Meres Leisure centre on Thursday to talk about their aches and pains.
The event, the first of its kind to be coordinated by the Personalisation Team, was designed to bring together many of the services that support people with musculoskeletal conditions such as joint aches or arthritis. There were representatives from GP surgeries, the hospital, One You, community physios, pain management service, the county council, charity sector, the district council, citizen’s advice, and lots more.
Matt Evans, MSK Personalisation Project Manager, explained; “The event had two key purposes. One was to provide a one-stop-shop to help people living with joint aches and pains. The other was to unite the workforce so that colleagues know what is out there and what can be offered to the people they work with.”
This was certainly achieved as visitors to the centre were able to access a plethora of services including informal discussions with physiotherapists, sign-up to weight-loss programmes, join talks to better understand their pain and enrol on leisure activities such as Goodboost and Health Walks. Some people had received personal invites to attend as regular services were lifted out of their usual NHS settings and placed into spaces at the event. This included two physio bays and four wellbeing pods, temporarily created from huge Lego bricks. The whole event ran without additional budget as partners re-located their usual working practices and activities.
Gemma Wright, Personalised Care Lead at K2 Primary Care Network, said; “We invited people to the event that were on a waiting list. We wanted them to know all the fantastic opportunities and services that are available to them in their neighbourhood. Through collaborative working we joined forces with a number of organisations that shared our ambition to meet the needs of people living with joint aches and pains.”
Early evidence suggests that people have already signed up to and began attending support groups following the day. A full evaluation of the event and the impact of it is underway in the hope that this way of working can be achieved for other health conditions. Matt added: “A truly integrated health system makes the most of all of the services and assets we have available to us; NHS, local authority and community based.”
For more information: matthew.evans34@nhs.net
Colleagues from across health, community and local authority organisations unite to support people living with aches and pains.
