Chiropractic Awareness Week 2024: 22-28 April

Posted on by BCA

Chiropractic Awareness Week (CAW) 2024 starts today and this year, we are raising awareness and speaking up for our profession, to build understanding and recognition about the value and expertise that chiropractors bring to their local communities. CAW is a celebration of everything chiropractors do as healthcare professionals; how they treat and care for people, how they work together as peers and their wider role in the healthcare arena. CAW is our opportunity to show how chiropractic can positively impact patient experience in terms of availability of choice, speed of appointments, and alleviation of pain and discomfort, all under the umbrella of our theme this year:

Making Chiropractic Integral: Building connections and nurturing a community with the people and places that matter to you

Approximately 30 million working days are lost each year due to Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, costing the economy billions. It’s a rising health crisis putting significant strain on the NHS, with over 1 million people currently waiting for community MSK treatment; however, the number of those needing support is far higher. The Government has acknowledged this crisis, committing £400 million to mental health, MSK issues and cardiovascular conditions specifically. However, without full consideration of the available treatments for MSK, which includes chiropractic care, this funding cannot be used most effectively.

In response, in 2024 the BCA launched a new lobbying campaign to shape the awareness of and access to MSK treatment, and this CAW we are taking the opportunity to highlight these efforts and showcase how, together with the NHS and wider health services, chiropractic has an integral role to play in addressing the MSK health challenges that our society faces.

In the UK, chiropractors are fully regulated healthcare experts in back pain and MSK issues, who provide people with more choice and access to preventative care. By doing so, chiropractors are well placed to help alleviate the strain on the NHS, improve patient experience and help avoid MSK issues developing into chronic conditions due to lack of a timely intervention. As a patient-first organisation, our primary goal is to equip our members with the professional support required to provide the best treatment possible for those who need care. We truly believe that working collaboratively with other primary care and NHS services is the way to relieve the strain on our healthcare system and enhance the understanding of our profession.

Commenting on the importance of making chiropractic integral, BCA President, Tim Button said: “The global burden of musculoskeletal conditions is only growing, and chiropractors are well placed to be a part of the solution.

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 skills and experience to reduce the burden of MSK conditions in their local communities through the face-to-face, hands-on approach to care they provide. With 17 million patients experiencing an MSK condition, it will take the breadth of professions across all settings to address this issue. 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.” 

In a nutshell, why does the BCA want chiropractors to be more integral to primary healthcare?

  • Chiropractic, as a profession, has shown that it offers a safe and effective treatment choice for patients and there is a clear need for more musculoskeletal (MSK) resources.
  • Currently, 30% of the population are estimated to have an MSK condition – that is over 20 million people in the UK.
  • The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities has reported in 2022 that 30% of GP consultations are taken by people with an MSK condition, costing the NHS around £5 billion each year – the third-largest area of NHS spend.
  • Beyond the health service, The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reported that MSK disorders accounted for 6.6 million days lost due to work-related ill health in 2022/23. 
  • The charity Versus Arthritis has found that one in five people described as economically inactive have an MSK condition and that the cost of working days lost from just two forms of MSK conditions is estimated to be £3.43 billion by 2030.
  • Low back and neck pain are the greatest cause of years lost to disability in the UK, with chronic joint pain or osteoarthritis affecting more than 8.75 million people in the UK.
  • With the global burden of MSK disease only growing, and these statistics showing such a financial impact on both the NHS and on businesses, we need to engage more effectively across healthcare to tackle this.
  • Chiropractic has a responsibility to ensure that the skills and knowledge it brings to the table are best utilised to improve patient outcomes as an integral part of their healthcare.
  • There is a big demand for healthcare professionals with the right competencies such as chiropractors to fill this, but we need to be trusted and taken seriously by our colleagues in healthcare.
  • At the 2012 London Olympic Games, chiropractic was integrated into the Medical Services for the first time. It was described as the most successful Medical Services delivery to date and has been a model for future Olympic Games, the 2017 World Athletic Championships and the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

By working as part of an integrated care model, chiropractors, alongside GPs, physiotherapists, and other medical professionals, can be part of a system that provides patients with more direct routes to the treatment that they need, thus better contributing to the health of our country’s population. We truly believe that working collaboratively with other healthcare professionals and NHS services is the way to reach this goal and enhance the understanding of our profession, which is one of the main aims of our lobbying campaign and something we’re really passionate about at the BCA.

We look forward to continuing our work towards achieving our Mission for chiropractic to be integral to UK healthcare and building chiropractors’ credibility as evidence-informed, ethical experts within the modern healthcare team’

BCA members can find a range of resources to help them celebrate CAW with their patients and showcase the positive impact they are making to the health of their community, here.

Sources:
About the British Chiropractic Association: 

The BCA is the largest and longest-standing association for chiropractors in the UK and has been named ‘Best Professional Body of the Year’ at the Memcom Excellence Awards 2022 for its Repositioning Project which has played a pivotal role in changing the healthcare landscape for the better. As well as promoting international standards of education and exemplary conduct, the BCA supports chiropractors to progress and develop to fulfil their professional ambitions with honour and integrity, at every step. The BCA is raising awareness about the rigour, relevance and evidence driving the profession and the association’s ambition for chiropractic to be more closely embedded within mainstream healthcare.

The BCA is the home for chiropractors who provide patient-centred, evidence-based care and offer full transparency to their patients. Through the Patient Charter BCA chiropractors provide reassurance to their patients and that they will empower them to make an informed decision about their treatment.