Our response to ‘Diagnosis Connect’

24 July 2025

We were pleased to see the Government announce last week they will be launching a new service in 2026, Diagnosis Connect, that will see people with long term conditions automatically referred to specialist charities at the point of diagnosis.

For nearly 25 years NRAS has been providing support to people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, directly following diagnosis and throughout their lifetime. Our Right Start service, launched in 2019, involves a simple referral process from the rheumatology team. Following this, people receive a telephone consultation with one of our specially trained advisors. This allows us to provide both practical and emotional support, including a tailored package of materials and access to peer support both by phone and online. A first step into self-managing their condition, but crucially with the right support.

Last year Right Start received 677 referrals. 96% of respondents to our user survey rated the service as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ and 97% reported a positive impact on their emotional and mental health. In a recent study of a small number of sites referring patients to Right Start, one site reported that ‘patients feel empowered to self-manage their condition’ and that staff ‘feel reassured there is excellent info out there’.

We offer information, reassurance and support to people with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis throughout their lives. Last year, in addition to Right Start we also fielded more than 2000 calls, social media messages and enquiries to our dedicated Information & Support team, distributed more than 15,000 publications and signed up over 1,500 people to our online education programme SMILE-RA.

We look forward to seeing Diagnosis Connect progress and hope that services like Right Start will play an important part in enabling people diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis to thrive.

The great news for healthcare professionals is you don’t have to wait until 2026 to refer your patients, you can do it today by completing this online form.