Healthcare Conversations Podcast - Versus Arthritis in Conversation

Versus Arthritis Senior Clinical Policy Advisor and Consultant Rheumatologist, Benjamin Ellis, hosts the third episode of Healthcare Conversations. In this episode we will be discussing  how to make the most of digitisation to improve the end to end outcomes for people with MSK conditions whilst ensuring high quality, safe, effective and personalised care.

Thank you to our special guests who joined Benjamin for this conversation:

•  Larry Koyama  -   Innovation Lead at Imperial College Health Partners but at the time of recording,  A Senior Consultant at PPL. A physiotherapist by background who has worked at the CSP as Head of FCP Implementation and as a Darzi Fellow leading on a project for new models on MSK care. Larry is also a Versus Arthritis MSK Champion and is passionate about improving access to healthcare and reducing health inequalities.

•  Melanie Martin - Senior Delivery Manager in the NHS Transformation Directorate, which at the time of recording was NHSX. Also a physiotherapist by background, Melanie has completed a Topol fellowship which focused on implementing a digital service which supported rheumatoid arthritis patients to track disease progress between visits. Melanie is an advocate for using digital technology to add value and impact, to connect services and level out opportunities, but recognises that patients need to be offered a choice.

•  Mark Agathangelou - a Lived Experience Partner in the Experience of Care Team and NHSE and Improvement. Mark experiences chronic pain and as a result co founded CamPain – a patient led pain support group in Camden. Mark has a range of experience as a patient representative and has completed a pain management programme. Mark believes strongly in amplifying patient and carer voice and using co-productive approach to planning, delivering and improving services. 

Versus Arthritis Senior Clinical Policy Advisor and Consultant Rheumatologist, Benjamin Ellis, hosts the second episode of Healthcare Conversations. This episode focuses on Versus Arthritis’ report on Chronic Pain in England; Unseen, Unequal, Unfair. He speaks to clinicians and a person living with chronic pain about their experiences living with/treating chronic pain, what struck them about the report and what they would like to see happen as a result. 

Thank you to our special guests who jointed Benjamin for this conversation.

• Jackie Walumbe - Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner in the Complex Pain Team at UCL as well as a Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow. She has been involved in pain management for the last 14 years. 
• Asim Suleman -  a GP with an extended role in Pain Management based in Bradford. Asim's been active in pain management for 15 years and is passionate about delivering care and support to those most disadvantaged in society.

Victoria Morgan -  a marketing professional from Norfolk who has lived with Chronic Pain for the last 9 years. She is passionate about raising awareness of chronic pain and has a blog around baking and chronic pain, called 'The Ache to Bake'. 

Versus Arthritis Senior Clinical Policy Advisor and Consultant Rheumatologist, Benjamin Ellis, hosts this first episode of Healthcare Conversations. The first episode is on the Versus Arthritis Musculoskeletal Decision Support Tools and explores why and how the tools were developed and the value of them to patients and healthcare professions. 

Thank you to our special guests who jointed Benjamin for this conversation. 

-          Dave Pilbury, a Rheumatology Clinician and Versus Arthritis MSK Champion

-          Jean Gaffin, retired Chief Executive in the voluntary sector and a person with arthritis.

-          Sam Finnikin, a GP and academic in decision making and person-centred care.