Improving Assessment, Treatment and Self-Management for People with Arthritis

Affecting approximately 10,000,000 people in the UK, arthritis is a leading cause of pain and
disability in daily activities and at work. In order to reduce the burden on the NHS, growing
pressure is being placed on individuals and society to self-manage this long-term condition. In
response, Salford’s research team designed, developed and tested a suite of arthritis-specific
clinical assessments to unravel the myriad ways in which this condition can affect individuals so
that tailored self-management strategies could be devised. Innovative treatments were
developed and tested for their clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness, as well as ease of
implementation in the NHS. Findings were utilised to inform treatment policy, guidelines and
clinical practice changes. This has led to improvements in rehabilitation services for people with
arthritis, an upskilling of health professionals in rheumatology and cost savings across the NHS.

This case study was submitted to REF 2021. For more information and to download the full case study, click here