ESCAPE-pain conference: Learning from each other

(Image: Sarah Ruane from Sport England presenting to a full venue)

The annual ESCAPE-pain conference was held at Guy’s Hospital on 11 September. Supported by Arthritis Research UK, the conference aimed to provide a learning and sharing opportunity for current and prospective providers. It brought together providers from NHS and leisure sector settings, commissioners and private practitioners.

After a warm welcome from Zoe Lelliott (Director of Strategy and Performance, HIN), Andrea Carter (Programme Director, HIN) and Professor Michael Hurley (Clinical Director, HIN) provided an update on ESCAPE-pain and future plans.

Speaker round-up

• Sarah Ruane (Strategic Lead – Health, Sport England) presented on Sport England’s initiatives that support their new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, and in particular, their insight into motivating inactive older adults to achieve recommended physical activity levels
• Adrienne Skelton (Director of Strategic Development, Arthritis Research UK) presented on the charity’s new strategic focus on quality of life and commitment to increasing adoption of effective interventions, such as ESCAPE-pain
• The team at East Surrey and Caterham Dene Hospitals presented their case study on how they engage patients and encourage them to continue exercising after ESCAPE-pain. They also brought along a recent ESCAPE-pain participant, Chris, who shared her heartwarming story about how ESCAPE-pain has changed her life
• Zoe Zambelli (Project Support Officer, HIN) presented on learnings on a review of ESCAPE-pain clinical outcomes and data collection processes
• Andrew Walker (Innovation Fellow, HIN) presented his research on the spread and adoption of ESCAPE-pain, including the challenges of programme scale-up and sustainability
• The team at Cheltenham General Hospital and The Cheltenham Trust presented on the benefits of their partnership, how they achieve a high retention rate and their future plans
• Amy Semple (Senior Project Manager, HIN) presented on Joint Pain Advisor, highlighting how its different from ESCAPE-pain, the delivery models and its impact.

ESCAPE-pain is currently running in over 30 sites across the UK. As our partnership with Arthritis Research UK develops, we expect an accelerated roll-out of sites before the year ends.

Follow tweets from the conference: @escape_pain and #ESCAPEpainConf

For more information, visit www.escape-pain.org or email hello@escape-pain.org