An online public survey highlights some concerns about the provision of physiotherapy in the NHS but doesn’t represent the full picture, the CSP says.
The survey by Healthwatch, open-sourced on social media, painted a mixed picture with some patients describing long waits, confusing referral pathways and disappointing experiences.
Others, however, pointed to much more positive interactions and life-changing outcomes.
Healthwatch, which covers England, made a number of calls on the UK government to improve patient care, including setting out in the forthcoming workforce plan refresh how it will recruit and retain more physiotherapists and setting national standards for how quickly people should be seen, for how long and how many times.
Ash James, CSP director of practice and development, welcomed the recommendations, which echoed the society’s own calls and set the context for many of the survey’s findings.
Ash said: ‘Some of the experiences are very difficult to read and no physiotherapist would choose to deliver that level of care.
It’s clear that in some parts of the country patients are being let down by the disastrous mix of staff shortages and budget constraints that mean they wait too long to be seen, then don’t get what they should when they do arrive at the front door.
‘We would strongly urge the government to take on board the recommendations from Healthwatch but more immediately, encourage local decision makers to lift recruitment freezes that are leaving services desperately short of staff.'
Ash added that: ‘It is also worth emphasising that the bad experiences described by some of the respondents to this poll do not reflect what is going on everywhere.
We know from our own polling, as well as the consultation done by the government when developing its long term plan, that the public remain strongly supportive of the profession.
‘Large studies, including the recent FCP evaluation in England, also regularly demonstrate high levels of patient satisfaction.'
So while the experiences highlighted by Healthwatch demand reflection, we must recognise that the urgent priority is to create the conditions for our members to deliver the level of care they know patients need.
The full recommendations for the UK government were:
To set out in its forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan how it will recruit and retain physiotherapists to support its ambitions.
To improve data collection on how many people are waiting for physiotherapy across various services
To set national standards on how quickly people should be seen, appointment lengths and frequency and follow-up care
Promote more joined up working between different services to avoid patients being bounced between services or back to the start of access routes
Additionally, it calls for physiotherapy staff to always take a personalised approach to patient care and consider accessibility issues when issuing exercise sheets.
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