SAT0442 Standardised core indicators of musculoskeletal health across europe: The eumusc.net project. (23rd January 2014) - Woolf, A.D.
Abstract : Background: EUMUSC.NET is a three year project to raise and harmonise quality and equity of care of rheumatic diseases and other musculoskeletal conditions across the 27 EU Member States. A key objective of the EUMUSC.NET project is to provide evidence at a country level of the impact of Musculoskeletal Conditions in terms of health, social, employment and economic measures. In order to achieve this goal EUMUSC.NET set out to develop a set of core indicators that could provide the basis for measuring the impact of musculoskeletal health in each country on a consistent and regular basis and enable comparions to be made between Member States. Objectives: To develop a set of core indicators to consistently measure the health, social, employment and economic impact of musculoskeletal health on countries in the EU27. Methods: The set of core indicators was developed by a working group with representatives from 11 EU Member States. This group: Conducted a review of previous work on indicators for MSCand a review of national, European and international indicator sets for relevance to MSC; Consulted with experts including those from the UK Department of Health, the Centre for Public Health Forecasting and Fit for Work on development of the core indicator set; Developed a criteria for selection of indicators to include in a core set; Reviewed the availability and accessibility of data from national, European and international data sets; Drew up a draft set of core indicators for consultation with the working group and the wider EUMUSC network (representing 22 organisations across the EU). Results: A core indicator set of 38 indicators across 8 domains was developed. These domains are: Incidence & prevalence, Health services utilisation, Hospital services utilisation, Human resources, Disability & social consequence, Health related quality of life, Co-morbidity and Population health. Conclusions: The development of a set of core indicators for the collection of comparable, accessible, relevant data from across the EU Member States to measure the impact of MSCis a key step in achieving equity and quality of care for MSCacross Europe. The indicators can be used for the effective surveillance of MSCand will be an important tool for needs assessment, progress monitoring, planning and priority setting for MSCacross the Union. Disclosure of Interest: None Declared