Arthritis Australia is leading a coalition of more than 40 leading health stakeholders, including the ARA, in a call for urgent action.
A powerful coalition comprising Arthritis Australia and more than 40 leading health stakeholders has called for urgent government action to provide more affordable evidence-based care for the millions of Australians with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions.
The formal communique followed Arthritis Australia’s first interactive Parliamentary Summit on Better Care for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions, held in Canberra last month.
Almost 100 people attended the summit, including consumers, clinicians, researchers, industry, peak groups, parliamentarians and policymakers.
Assistant health minister Ged Kearney, Opposition heath minister Senator Anne Ruston and Western Australian Senator Louise Pratt spoke at the summit, along with a panel of experts and lived experience speakers, including Professor David Hunter, Professor Rachelle Buchbinder, Ms Jo Root and Associate Professor Jane Desborough.
The coalition formed from the summit includes Arthritis Australia, Arthritis, Pain Support & ME/CFS ACT, the Australia & New Zealand Musculoskeletal Clinical Trials Network, Arthritis & Osteoporosis NT, Arthritis & Osteoporosis Tasmania, Arthritis & Osteoporosis Arthritis Western Australia, Arthritis NSW, Arthritis Queensland, the Australian Orthopaedic Association, the Australian Patients Association, the Australian Physiotherapy Association, the Australian Rheumatology Association, the Australian Podiatry Association, Catholic Health Australia, Chronic Pain Australia, the Consumers Health Forum of Australia, GHLP Creakyjoints Australia, the Juvenile Arthritis Foundation Australia, Dragon Claw, Medicines Australia, Painaustralia, Private Healthcare Australia and QUM Connect.
Signatory individuals include Linda Bradbury, Professor Anne Burke, Dr Nick Coatsworth, Dr Jonathan Dartnell, Professor Michelle Dowsey, Professor Rana Hinman, Professor David Hunter, Kaylene Hubbard, Dr Caitlin Jones, Laura Khuu, Ruth Lee, Dr David Liew, Professor Christine Lin, Professor Chris Maher AM, Kevyn Morris, Professor Susanna Proudman, Sonja Read, Kristine Riethmiller, Paul Ritchie, Anu Sawhney, Adjunct Associate Professor Sophie Scott OAM, Simon Smith and Dr Hugh Watson.
Arthritis Australia Acting CEO Louise Hardy said implementing proven models of care, including allied health support for exercise and symptom management to support people on joint replacement waiting lists, would make an immediate difference to their quality of life.
“We know that a large proportion will find their osteoarthritis so improved that they choose not to proceed with costly surgery, resulting in quickly realised savings to the health budget bottom line,” she said.
Ms Hardy told Rheumatology Republic the summit had been a huge success, saying this had been the largest and most ambitious parliamentary event Arthritis Australia had been a part of in recent years.
Ms Hardy felt the attendance alone was an indication of how urgent the need for change is.
“It is a set of conditions that have been overlooked and probably trivialised and definitely have been underfunded in the research space compared to other conditions,” she said.
“There’s a lot of people who have pressing issues that they want to see taken forward. We need the right sort of care to actually be funded. And this goes to health outcomes, and it goes to the costs of cost of care and cost of living.
“For consumers, we know that probably most people, whether it’s osteoarthritis or back pain or other conditions, aren’t actually receiving care according to guidelines, which is around lifestyle, behavioural support, allied health for symptom management and physical activity and weight loss.
“So that’s just not being funded. People are paying out of pocket for allied health, which is really important to them. Whether they’ve got inflammatory arthritis or osteoarthritis or other conditions, it’s one of the top things I’ve told us over years of surveys, that allied health is something that’s really important and it’s not getting funded.
Ms Hardy said she had come away from the summit feeling heard by the politicians and bureaucrats in attendance.
“I think we had some positive responses from politicians on the day, we had quite a number of MPs come in and listen and take part in the discussions, we had assistant minister Ged Carney and shadow health minister Anne Ruston speak, and I think there was acknowledgement from both of them that this is an issue,” she told RR.
“Obviously, they hear from a lot of other chronic disease groups, probably with some similar issues that arthritis does have. But it’s the highest cost disease group in the health system, so I think that is starting to be noticed.
“There are predictions about how, how much bigger the incidence of, particularly osteoarthritis, is going to be in the decades to come as the population continues to age.
“This is not a problem that is going to be fixed. No, it’s a growing problem. The direction of travel is very clear, and I think it’s not going to be sustainable for the health system to have the only real treatment for osteoarthritis continue to be joint replacements.”
A report released by Monash University and Arthritis Australia earlier this year examined the future burden of arthritis in Australia with projections to 2040.
Based on 2022 National Health Survey data and Australian population projections, an estimated 4.11 million people will be living with arthritis in 2025, the researchers found.
The number of people with arthritis is expected to increase to 5.39 million in 2040, representing a rise of 31%. This equates to an additional 1.28 million people living with arthritis in Australia by 2040 compared to 2025.
Overall, the burden of arthritis in Australia is highest in females for all years of the projection period. More than 2.17 million males and over 3.24 million females are forecast to be living with arthritis by 2040.
Dr Michael Johnson, President of the Australian Orthopaedic Association, the peak professional organisation for orthopaedic surgeons in Australia, said investing in early, evidence-based care for osteoarthritic conditions was essential to reducing the incidence of orthopaedic surgery in Australia.
“With over $2 billion spent annually on healthcare costs directly related to osteoarthritis, including knee and hip replacement surgery, there is an urgent need to prioritise funding for preventative measures that can delay or even prevent these surgeries,” he said.
“By doing so, we can improve patient outcomes and reduce the financial strain on our healthcare system,” states Dr Michael Johnson, President of the Australian Orthopaedic Association, the peak professional organisation for orthopaedic surgeons in Australia.
The communique calls for action in five key areas to address arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions such as back pain, including:
- Funding and enabling delivery of cost-effective, coordinated lifestyle behavioural models of care for arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions, with equitable access for rural and regional and priority populations.
- More affordable access to allied healthcare for Australians who need it.
- Support for consumer education and health system navigation.
- Supporting and enabling the multidisciplinary workforce to provide better care, including addressing workforce shortages.
- Funding an arthritis and musculoskeletal research mission that is commensurate with the disease burden and economic impact of these conditions.
Ms Hardy told RR the communique would form the foundation of an election platform as well as policy and funding proposals.
“We are really hoping to keep the momentum up and keep working with this coalition of groups that’s been assembled,” she said.
“I think we’d like to keep involved in these groups as much as they’d like to be involved. And if that means kind of formalising things over time, I think that’s something we’d certainly be open to.”
The full communique and list of signatories can be accessed here.
