The user-led charity, which celebrated its diamond jubilee in 2007 and pre-dates the NHS by one year, beat a distinguished field to scoop the coveted award. Fellow short-listers were the British Heart Foundation, Mencap, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, and the Prostate Cancer Charity.

Some nine million people in the UK have arthritis. It has no cure, comes in forms ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to osteoarthritis, gout and lupus, and is the biggest cause of physical disability in the country. It affects people of any age, including 12,000 children, toddlers, and babies.

‘Arthritis Care aims to be the first point of call and ‘one-stop-shop' for anyone wanting to learn about arthritis in any of its 200 forms. This award is a vote of confidence in the information we provide the media and public, and it is fantastic that it comes from the big hitters of the MJA. They are the respected, authoritative communicators who influence health and public policy, so if we are helping them, then we're doing our own job of helping people with arthritis to get their voices heard', said Rachel Haynes, Arthritis Care's director of public affairs, who collected the award at last night's ceremony at the Royal Society of Medicine.

Arthritis Care provides free helplines and publishes a range of factsheets and booklets offering support to people with arthritis, or affected by it. It also offers free-to-user self-management courses, equipping people with long term conditions to live ‘smart', and to run their lives more effectively beyond the surgery door.

Arthritis Care free confidential helpline: 0808 800 4050, open 10am-4pm weekdays