Awards and Endorsements

ESCAPE-pain offers two programmes:

• ESCAPE-pain for knees and hips: designed to benefit people with chronic knee or hip pain, otherwise known as osteoarthritis.

• ESCAPE-pain for backs: designed to benefit people with chronic low back pain

Please note most of the endorsements, support, awards, citations and accreditations below relate to the ESCAPE-pain programme for knees and hips. Where posts relate to the ESCAPE-pain for backs programme this will be clearly marked as such.

Endorsements & support

• NHS England:
  • Highlighted in the updated NHS England clinical guidance (pages 15-18) on knee arthroscopy for patients with osteoarthritis in their Evidence-Based Interventions: Guidance for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) published in November 2018 and updated in January 2019. The guidance states that exercise programmes like ESCAPE-pain are more effective treatments for patients with osteoarthritis than arthroscopic knee washouts. (January 2019)
  • ESCAPE-pain is mentioned in the NHS Long Term Plan launched in early 2019. Read our response. (January 2019)
  • Recommended by NHS Staff Health & Wellbeing: Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) as a low intensity therapy for their supplementary guidance. (May 2018)
• NHSX
  • NHSX shares digital playbooks containing case studies including ESCAPE-pain. The new digital playbooks released by NHSX contain more than 90 case studies of how technology is being used to solve clinical challenges. (December 2020)​
• Public Health England:
  • Referenced in the Public Health England published guidance on musculoskeletal health - 'Musculoskeletal Health: applying All Our Health'. (January 2019)
  • Recommended by Public Health England as a preferred intervention for musculoskeletal management. Their report titled, 'Return on Investment Interventions for the Prevention and Treatment of Musculoskeletal Conditions' shows the programme has a positive financial ROI of £5.20 for every £1 spent. (October 2017) 
  • Featured as a case study by Public Health England 'ESCAPE-pain programme in Cheltenham'. (December 2017)
  • Identified as one of the top 5 case studies in a RAND Europe report commissioned by Public Health England to review the current landscape of health and wellbeing interventions available to employers.
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP)​:
  • ESCAPE-pain is referenced in the newly published resources to support people self-managing their musculoskeletal conditions. These resources are supported by NHS England and NHS Improvement as part of the MSK leadership group which also includes the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR), the CSP, Versus Arthritis and the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA). (April 2020)
• NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA): 
  • ESCAPE-pain is included in the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) microsite which features each NIA innovation and how they address COVID/NHS recovery. The aim of the site is to provide a single place where those interested in finding solutions and adopting innovation can visit, easily identify what is available that addresses the problems they face, and find contact details to continue the conversation about implementation (October 2020).
  • York Health Economics Consortium conducted an economic evaluation of ESCAPE-pain on behalf of the NIA and produced this case study. (July 2019) 
  • ESCAPE-pain is featured in an NHS Innovation Accelerator brochure (page 37)
  • Pioneering NHS sites improving patient outcomes through innovation commended by Health Secretary, Matt Hancock MP. ESCAPE-pain has been included as a case study in the recent NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) report 'Understanding how and why the NHS adopts innovation'. (November 2018)
• National Institute for Health Research (NIHR):
  • Featured in the NIHR Dissemination Centre's themed review of musculoskeletal recommendations. 'Moving Forward' highlights the importance of physiotherapy in improving and reducing the negative effects associated with musculoskeletal conditions. ESCAPE-pain has been commended for its improvement of patient-care and its encouragement of self-care. (July 2018)
• Versus Arthritis:
  • Highlighted as a Tier 3 intervention in Arthritis Research UK's 'Providing physical activity interventions for people with musculoskeletal conditions' report. (March 2017) 
  • ESCAPE-pain Online included in Versus Arthritis advice on 'How to manage your pain at home'. (April 2020).
• Academic Health Science Network (AHSN):
  • ESCAPE-pain case study ‘Supporting people with chronic joint pain: Virtual delivery of ESCAPE-pain classes’, included on the AHSN website to illustrate how AHSNs are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting our NHS and social care partners. (December 2020)
  • Featured in the AHSN Network impact report 2018/19. (June 2019) 
  • Read the ESCAPE-pain case study in the AHSN Network magazine - The Innovators. The magazine draws together insights and learning on how healthcare innovation is transforming lives. (June 2019)
  • Endorsed by the AHSN Network. Identified as one of seven programmes developed regionally and selected for national adoption and spread across the network during 2018-2020. (March 2018)
• NHS RightCare:
  • Featured within the NHS RightCare Commissioning for Value: Long term conditions pack. (December 2016)
• British Orthopaedic Association (BOA):
  • Highlighted in a message from the British Orthopaedic Association to people waiting for joint replacement and other orthopaedic surgery during the Covid-19 pandemic. (June 2020)
  • ​Highlighted by the British Orthopaedic Association in their pre-operative pathway.
• Online Osteoarthritis Management Programmes:
  • Included in a respositary of interventions, Online Osteoarthritis Management Programmes, identified by the Joint Effort Initiative Implementation Group (endorsed by Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI)) as a response to the Covid-19 situation. The repository provides stakeholders and organisations with access to online, evidence based, international OA management programmes (OAMPs). The repository provides solutions for healthcare professionals seeking to access and signpost patients with OA to remote, high-quality programmes that do not require face to face contact. It also provides healthcare practitioner resources for online training in delivering OA management programmes. (August 2020)

Awards & shortlistings

• Self Care Forum:
  • ESCAPE-pain programme awarded the 2021 'Self Care Innovation Award' by the Self Care Forum. (November 2021)
• ​Health Service Journal (HSJ):
  • ESCAPE-pain programme awarded 'MSK Care Initiative of the Year' at the HSJ Value Awards 2020. Read more about it on our website. (September 2020)
• Active Training Awards:
  • The ESCAPE-pain Facilitator Training Programme won the 'Specialist Training Programme of the Year 2019' award at the Active Training Awards & Conference held in Birmingham in November 2018. (November 2018)
  • Clinical Director, Professor Mike Hurley, was shortlisted for a UK Active award for 'Outstanding Individual of the Year'. (November 2018)
• NHS Innovation Accelerator:
  • Clinical Director, Professor Mike Hurley, was awarded a Fellowship joining the prestigious 2017 NHS Innovation Accelerator to increase national spread of the ESCAPE-pain programme. The fellowship will last one year and is supported by a host of industry and healthcare professionals. (December 2017). 
• British Society for Rheumatology: 
  • Best Practice Award in Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Disorders from the British Society for Rheumatology (2016)
• Royal Society of Public Health: 
  • Health and Wellbeing Award (2015)
• AbbVie Sustainable Healthcare:
  • Finalist for the AbbVie Sustainable Healthcare: Patients as Partners Award (2016)
• Sport England:
  • Awarded a Sport England grant to tackle inactivity in inactive people over 55 during 2018-2020. (2017)
• Harvard Business School:
  • Semi-Finalist Harvard Business School Acceleration Challenge (2016)

Citations

• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence:
  • Referenced in the original NICE clinical guideline [CG177] for the clinical management of osteoarthritis​. (2008)
• UK Active:
  • Cited in the UK Active report 'Reimagining Ageing'. (September 2018)
• NHS RightCare:
  • Featured in the NHS RightCare North Region Musculoskeletal Collaborative Programme delivery pack. This is being rolled out via their Delivery Partner network. If you would like to access a copy please contact the team via email. (August 2018)
• Richmond Group:
  • Included in the Richmond Group's 'Doing the Right Thing' report
• Quality Innovation Productivity and Prevention (QIPP):
  • Featured as a QIPP case study - NICE publication. (April 2013)
• British Journal of General Practice:
  • Cited in a British Journal of General Practice editorial titled 'Reducing arthritis pain through physical activity: a new public health, tiered approach'. (October 2017)
• Innovation Exchange:
  • Listed on the Innovation Exchange website (February 2017)

Accreditations

• Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMPSPA):
  • The ESCAPE-pain faciltator training programme is accredited by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity and now forms part of their Skills Development Partner network. (2018). This course is on the CIMSPA portal, if you are a member of CIMSPA at the time of completing the course, you can claim your 8 CPD points by logging into the portal and submitting your certificate of attendance. 

Page last reviewed: 14 February 2022. Page last updated: 14 February 2022. Next review date: April 2022