With just four weeks to go until Chiropractic Awareness Week (CAW) 2023, we are excited to announce this year’s theme and share some more information about our plans for this important week in the calendar. CAW is an opportunity for us to make Chiropractic part of the healthcare conversation and draw attention to how BCA chiropractors are an integral part of the UK healthcare system, reducing pressure on the NHS. The theme of this year’s Chiropractic Awareness Week:
Chiropractic: a credible option for patients in 2023
Commenting on the theme, BCA President, Catherine Quinn said, “Chiropractors provide patients with an option to access face to face, hands on care from a highly trained, regulated healthcare professional. Whilst there are chiropractors providing care in the NHS, the vast majority offer this in a private practice setting, meaning that patients can access care in the way that suits them. The global burden of musculoskeletal conditions is only growing, and chiropractors are well placed to be a part of the solution. Chiropractors are valued by their patients who reliably, come away with positive experience and high levels of satisfaction. My patients regularly tell me that they appreciate being able to engage with how their care is delivered, especially in a face-to-face environment.”
Good musculoskeletal health (MSK) is essential in maintaining a person’s function throughout their life. It is also fundamental to healthy ageing, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has characterised as ‘the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age’. MSK conditions can affect people across their whole life. Prevention, early detection and treatment can enable people to live in good health, remain independent and connected to their community. There are also economic advantages for society, such as reducing the pressure on health and social care services and reducing costs as a result of people being unable to work*.
Each year, 20% of people in the UK see a doctor about an MSK problem, and the pressure on the NHS shows no sign of abating**. Given this affects 17 million people, MSK conditions will continue to be a major focus for the Government, who have recently identified MSK disorders as one of 6 major conditions requiring attention and action.
The Government pledge to reform the way we tackle these conditions to include ‘whole person care’ is yet another example of how the approach chiropractors take towards patient care is being endorsed by modern policy. The Government’s model seeks to focus on ‘preserving good health’, and this is at the core of Chiropractic practice.
Long NHS waiting lists continue to be highlighted by the media and local care providers, such as GPs and FCPs, are looking for choice to address growing patient need. Understanding that they have a credible option for MSK conditions via chiropractors is key to giving patients access to all their available options.
This CAW, we will be highlighting the role Chiropractic plays in providing patients with choice, as a credible solution to NHS waiting lists and as a first port of call for patients seeking MSK care.
Discussing this year’s CAW activity, Catherine added, “Chiropractors are serving their local communities by offering credible and high-quality healthcare that patients truly value. This Chiropractic Awareness Week, I look forward to reading about the ways in which our members have used their clinical skill and experience to reduce the burden of MSK conditions on the NHS through their face-to-face, hands-on approach to care. With 17 million patients experiencing an MSK condition, it will take the breadth of professions across all setting to address this. If all members of the healthcare family adopted an integrated approach to care, celebrating the variety of regulated professions who can contribute to keeping the UK population in good health, we will stand a better chance of addressing the burden of MSK conditions. I look forward to celebrating how chiropractors are forming a part of patient’s healthcare team and working collaboratively with all healthcare providers to best serve their patients.”
Sources:
* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16226622/
** https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-01-24/hcws514
