Influencing for people with arthritis in 2017

We know that arthritis can impact on all parts of a person’s life, and as a result our policy, campaigns and public affairs team have had a busy year. Working across health, work, benefits, social care, and many more areas, there have been lots of positive developments to reflect on in 2017, but there are also some big challenges ahead.A huge thanks to everyone who has supported our work across 2017. Your emails to decision makers, survey responses, petition signatures and the stories you’ve shared with us, have made our work hugely powerful and helped us create an impact.Here’s a rundown of our top 5 highlights of 2017:We made sure people’s voices were heard on the topic of workWe know that work matters to many people with arthritis, helping them remain independent, giving a sense of control, and improving quality of life. This time last year, the Government acknowledged that things needed to improve. We submitted a consultation response to this with suggestions about what could be done to improve the system. Alongside this, 319 of our campaigners signed an open letter to Government on the topic of work, with 269 people submitting a personal story. By the 30 November 2017 the Government had gone through all the responses it received, and announced its plans. There are some positive aspects, and some not so positive. Going forward we will follow up with decision makers to ensure that people with all forms of arthritis are able to remain in work, or ret...
Source: Arthritis Research UK - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: news