Physio Assessment Specialists

Residents in the Farnborough locality are able to directly see a physiotherapist instead of a GP at their local surgery if they are seeking an appointment for joint or muscle pain. Around one in five people book in to see their doctor with a musculoskeletal problem, and often have to wait for a GP referral to get access to physiotherapy advice for such conditions. In early 2019, a contract was signed between the NHS and the British Medical Association that will see 22,000 extra staff working in GP surgeries to attend to a range of patients by 2023-2024. In addition to physiotherapists, pharmacists and paramedics will also be hired to relieve pressure on doctors.There are services already up and running in 41 of the 42 health regions in the UK and early evaluations show that patients are getting much speedier access to specialist assessment and advice which is reducing costs and freeing up GP time to see patients who need a medical diagnosis.

First Contact Practitioners have already been seeing patients in the GP surgeries for over a year now using several physiotherapy providers, and the service has been very well received by the GPs and the patients. The service was put in place by Salus Medical, the GP federation for your locality.

Ben Coffey, lead physiotherapist and FCP at Surrey Physio says:

‘This is excellent news for patients in North East Hampshire as it gives them the

opportunity to see the right person at the right time. The expertise of physios in these roles means fewer patients will be left waiting for a referral or unnecessary tests such as x-rays and MRIs’.

‘Each appointment with a FCP physiotherapist will vary significantly depending on what the issue may be – it could be as simple as discussing lifestyle changes and signposting someone to local exercise providers or referring for diagnostics and potential surgery’. ‘All of this saves time and money for the NHS but more importantly, it allows people to start the right treatment sooner so that they are able to stay in work or resume their day

to day activities.’

Access to the clinics will be directly via our reception staff.