20 December 2023
Over the past year, the National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit (NEIAA) has undergone an improvement going from strength to strength. There has been a new contract with new inclusion criteria, a new dataset, an improved platform, new clinical leadership, and a new refreshed approach to how we engage with services.
In a celebration event held at the beginning of December, we brought together individuals who have contributed to the project over the past year. Some of these include the patient panel, the project working group and the senior governance group. We heard from the patient panel and members of the operations team about the work and achievements over the past year.
The panel expressed how they felt empowered to contribute to the outputs of the audit and help support patient engagement. With a new approach to ways of working as a panel, the patients have a safe space to talk through their matters with peers and channel that relationship into working towards an agreed work plan.
We know that the patient voice is so powerful, and we look forward to expanding the panel in the coming months to ensure we have representation across the new diseases also.
Clinical Lead for the audit, Dr Liz Price, talked about the approach she has taken to engage with services, specifically those who were identified as an outlier in the Year 5 NEIAA State of the Nation report. Out of 45 outliers, Liz has spoken with 35 services and has provided letters of support for them to use with their Trust leadership.
We have a wonderful video featuring Dr Srinivasan Srirangan at Medway NHS Foundation Trust who explained that although the impact from the call would take time in terms of seeing improvements, the approach of the audit to be more personal and supportive was very much appreciated.
We also heard from Ed Alveyn from KCL about what the data is showing us so far, while recruitment is doing well, there is more work to do on ensuring the CTDs and Vasculitis are input in the audit.
NEIAA's transformative journey over the past year is a testament to the collective dedication of its contributors. As we reflect on the achievements of the past year, NEIAA stands poised at the forefront of shaping a more informed, engaged, and empowered landscape for early inflammatory arthritis.