Imagine waking up in agony with a flare-up of an old knee injury and needing physiotherapy? You book an appointment with your GP, get referred and then face a 10-week wait – or go private.
Now imagine picking up the telephone and arranging to see a NHS physiotherapist in the same week. That is what’s happening in Devon and Nottingham, where the profession has developed two different, but successful services giving patients rapid access to treatment.
The schemes provide evidence of the benefits of physiotherapy self-referral at a time when GPs are still traditionally gatekeepers to the service.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy reveals that just 30% of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England offer physiotherapy self-referral, compared with two-thirds of CCGs in Wales. In Scotland, self-referral is almost countrywide.
Pockets of innovation do exist, however. In Torbay and south Devon, patients with musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries can see a physiotherapist within 72 hours, instead of waiting up to 10 weeks.
Based in 10 teams across the region’s community hospitals, physiotherapists offer a 45-minute first appointment where an assessment, diagnosis and treatment plan is agreed. Giving rapid access to treatment has meant that patients are less likely to turn up to A&E departments or need specialist orthopaedic care. It has also triggered a 70% reduction in the number of missed appointments.
In Nottingham, physiotherapists in 25 practices are the first point of call for patients who can make an appointment when they ring the surgery. This has cut waiting times from four weeks to a 72-hour service. Rob Goodwin, clinical lead physiotherapist, believes the scheme could be rolled-out nationally: “In the past, patients would see a GP twice about a MSK problem before getting referred. Now they can see a physio straightaway. The amount of time freed up is staggering.”
