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UK Fibromyalgia Alliance Update

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Category: Press Releases

Published on Thursday, 11 February 2010 12:48

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From Fibromyalgia Focus, an update on the UK FM alliance. You can find out some more information on our monthly magazine here.

In the January 2010 issue of FaMily the UK Fibromyalgia Alliance was launched with a view to uniting all UK fibromyalgia organisations and initiatives behind some common aims and objectives. At a recent meeting of FibroAction, Fibromyalgia Association UK and UK Fibromyalgia it was agreed that all parties agreed with the aims outlined by the Alliance:

1. That all people with Fibromyalgia in the UK should have access to the mechanisms needed for fast and accurate diagnosis.
2. That all people with Fibromyalgia in the UK should have access to effective, evidence based treatments.
3. That all people affected by Fibromyalgia in the UK should not be subject to discrimination because of the condition, including discrimination by employers, medical professionals or the state.

It was also decided that all three organisations would focus their immediate attention on one specific element of the alliance’s objectives: that of the creation of an evidence-based integrated care pathway (ICP). The specific joint announcement from the three organisations says:

FibroAction, Fibromyalgia Association UK and UK Fibromyalgia agreed at a recent meeting that, although we are all in support of the principles behind the proposed Fibromyalgia Alliance, the practicalities of this initiative would have caused too many logistical issues for all the organisations involved. However it has focussed a renewed ambition to work more closely, in harmony, towards the aims as laid out by the proposed alliance. A consensus to produce an ICP collaboratively and to promote this through the channels of all three organisations, with a view to it being widely adopted, was agreed as the best way forward.

An ICP is a multidisciplinary outline of anticipated care, placed in an appropriate time-frame, to help a patient with fibromyalgia move progressively through a clinical experience to positive outcomes. Within the NHS, ICPs are published in a consistent form through the Map of Medicine, which all NHS staff will have access to.

They will also be available through the NHS CHOICES site. Once we have an approved ICP all three organisations will work to get the Fibromyalgia ICP accepted by the UK medical profession and the NHS. This will probably be through a combination of PCT trials, publicity, events, use of current contacts and the use of the All Party Political Group for Fibromyalgia.

So although the alliance is no longer going ahead, FMA UK will be working closely with FibroAction and UK Fibromyalgia to ensure through this ICP that more effective diagnosis and treatment is consistent throughout the UK.

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