Workpackages meetings 2011

17-18 March 2011 and 27^th June 2011 Health Quality Indicators

These were the first meetings held by Work Package 6 which aimed to develop a set of Health Care Quality Indicators which can be used to monitor the processes and outcomes of health care for MSCs. Throughout the meeting each indicator was addressed with regards to structure, process, and outcomes relevant to achieving optimal MSC health. Each indicator was assessed to be scientifically sound and found to fit for international comparison. Consensus for the final recommended health care quality indicators among the working group will be reached at the final meeting which will take place in January 2012.

22^nd Feburary 2011 Standards of Care

The aim of work package 5 is to develop standards of care for the major musculoskeletal conditions. February saw the final meeting for the working group which was held at the Medical University Vienna. Following the previous meeting which centred on Osteoarthritis, significant progress was made in identifying the core sets of patient centred standards of care for Rheumatoid Arthritis. A process was developed which involved classifying the interventions into 7 distinct groups, in total 48 separate interventions were classified into: Pharmacological treatments, Monitoring, Lifestyle interventions, Surgery, Education/ information/ self-management, non-pharmacological treatment and access to care. Discussions also centred around the most effective/appropriate way to word the standards which are to aimed a patients and patient organisations.

24^th-25^th January 2011 Musculoskeletal Health Status in Europe

This was to be the final meeting for Work Package 4 held at the Royal Society of Medicine, London. The meeting held over two days aimed to finalise the list of core indicators of MSC burden and plan and identify the actions need to complete the WP report. A presentation was given by Ingemar Petersson on the Health Inequalities in Musculoskeletal Disorders which provided an excellent basis from which to begin discussions on final list of core indicators. Decisions were made with regards to which statistics to collect, what they tell us about the burden of MSC and also the reliability and availability of the associated data. Once again, a lack of routinely collected data across all European countries was highlighted. This gave rise to the priority for a representative in each member state who can be called upon for information and data. With WP4 now drawing to a close, a network of representatives is being established with the help of EULAR.