Dear Prime Minister,
It’s time for action. It’s time to take arthritis seriously.
For too long, the 10 million people with arthritis, like us, have been failed. Left without the support and care we need to live the lives we choose.
You’ve talked very powerfully about your mum’s own struggles living with Still’s Disease so we know you have first-hand experience of the devastation arthritis can cause and the resilience that people living with these conditions have to show. However, arthritis is often still misunderstood. For many of us, it can take years to receive a diagnosis- and for those that do, it’s often shrugged off as ‘a bit of wear and tear’. The reality is stark. Arthritis impacts all aspects of our lives and for too long it has not been given the seriousness or urgency it deserves.
That is why we are calling on you to commit to taking arthritis seriously and offer a fresh start for the 10 million of us living with these conditions across the UK.
We are pleased to hear you have committed to prioritising cutting NHS waiting times. The trauma and orthopaedic waiting list has reached one million, forcing many thousands of us to put our lives on hold as we wait in agony for care and support. Ongoing delays are pushing more of us out of work and to breaking point. As long-term users of the NHS we know more than most the difficulties in accessing an appointment, meeting the right specialist or navigating our way around often complex, bureaucratic systems.
We want to see people with arthritis finally recognised. Your mission-driven Government can offer a fresh start and hope for people with arthritis – for those of us already living with the condition, and the millions more who will be diagnosed in the years ahead.
We want a brighter future for people with arthritis.
Working closely with leaders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we urge you to place people with arthritis at the top of your Government’s agenda, including taking immediate action to:
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Make arthritis a health priority.
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Tackle waiting times for essential planned care – like knee and hip replacements – so that people with arthritis can live life on their own terms again.
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Invest more in musculoskeletal research to help drive life-changing breakthroughs.
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Support people with arthritis to stay, or return to, work.
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Give children and young people with arthritis the right tools in school, at home, and in the community so they can thrive.
We urge you to commit to do all you can for us, the people living with arthritis and their carers, researchers and health care professionals across the UK. We urge you take arthritis seriously.
Yours sincerely,
Pippa (37), Roberta (76), Ken (65) and Sfiyah (11)
People living with arthritis