UK’s largest arthritis charities merge

Arthritis Care will merge into Arthritis Research UK and work as one charity from October 2017. Talks between the two organisations began at the start of the year, and after careful consideration it was decided that the 10 million people with arthritis in the UK would be best served by one voice.

Dr Liam O’Toole, chief executive officer of Arthritis Research UK, and Judi Rhys, chief executive of Arthritis Care, comment:

“Currently there are too many people living with the pain, fatigue and isolation caused by arthritis. The two charities are doing great work to address their needs and we know we can have a greater impact on people’s lives by creating one organisation.

“The aspirations of people with arthritis are changing and it is vital that we continue to meet their expectations. We can stand together with one louder voice to change attitudes and press for change. We can transform our care, support and information services so that many more people can build their knowledge, skills and resilience to live well with arthritis.

“We will continue our fight to find better treatments and even a cure and we’ll now be able to offer our supporters, members, volunteers, branches and groups the opportunity to join patient-focussed clinical trials and influence the research agenda. We believe that this is a truly exciting step.”

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