Health workers to ‘move’ on arthritis
Arthritis Australia is calling on the federal government to implement the recently launched Time to Move: Arthritis strategy, which provides a comprehensive range of proposals to reduce the disabling impact of arthritis by assisting health workers to improve care and support for people with the condition.
Reducing the disabling impact of arthritis by assisting health workers to improve care and support for people with the condition is imperative.
The call comes as new research reveals that many arthritis sufferers cannot engage in basic everyday activities due to being severely disabled from their condition.
The research was conducted by the University of NSW’s Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) for Arthritis Australia.
The nation wide study examined the lived experience of more than 800 Australians with arthritis and related conditions.
Nearly all participants (95%) reported arthritis limited their ability to manage daily activities with one third being unable to manage their home or garden, one in five unable to undertake domestic duties and 5% requiring assistance with basic personal care, such as showering and dressing.
In particular, people’s capacity to work was affected, with two in three people reporting that arthritis had affected the type and hours of work or study they were able to do and one in four reporting they were permanently unable to work or study due to their condition.
“This is a very significant finding when you consider that two in three people with arthritis are of working age,” says Ainslie Cahill, Arthritis Australia chief executive.
According to Ms Cahill, concern also surrounds the fact that two in three study participants experienced delays of more than one year to diagnosis and one in three experienced delays of more than five years.
“We know that early diagnosis and treatment is critical, especially for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, where it has been shown to reduce associated disability by a third.
“We know that much can be done to prevent or reduce the disability associated with arthritis by providing better care for people as early as possible in the disease course,” she adds.
