Scottish children with arthritis – better care on the way
Children in Scotland suffering from the crippling condition of arthritis should soon be offered a better standard of care right across the country – following the appointment of Scotland's first full-time children's arthritis specialist.
Dr Janet Gardner-Medwin has taken up the post of senior lecturer in paediatric rheumatology at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Yorkhill in Glasgow.
One of her main objectives is to ensure that all 1,000 children in Scotland who suffer from the childhood version of arthritis (known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis) get the best care possible – whether they live in Galashiels, Glasgow or Gairloch, by developing a network of clinics treating children in centres throughout the country.
Dr Gardner-Medwin's post is being funded by a five-year grant of more than £378,000 for five years by medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc).
She is also setting up research into childhood arthritis in collaboration with others in the Department of Child Health, across Glasgow University, and with the Centre for Rheumatic Diseases at Glasgow Royal Infirmary on how to improve the outcome for children with the potentially crippling condition.
"The West Midlands and Birmingham, where I moved from, has the same number of children as Scotland yet has three full-time paediatric rheumatologists," explained Dr Gardner-Medwin. "It's different here because the population is so scattered, but I've already been approached by a couple of centres to set up a clinical network closer to where children live.
"My appointment means I am the first person to be working full-time with children with arthritis in Scotland, and I hope to work closely with the adult rheumatologists and paediatricans who already care for these children."
Doctors will also be invited to educational sessions at Yorkhill to take back the latest ideas on treatment and disease management.
The Arthrthitis Research Campaign is the fourth largest medical research charity in the UK and currently funds an extensive research programme in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee. The chairman of the charity's board of trustees is Professor Roger Sturrock, a leading consultant rheumatologist at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
