A target for service cuts

Cuts and cancellations have become part and parcel of NHS underfunding and cash-strapped CCGs rationing of care.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) notes that cuts to physiotherapy services are not cost-effective and could result in:

• unnecessary pain, loss of mobility and independence and reduced quality of life;
• an increase in costs to the NHS;
• chronic health problems, disability and more time off work as conditions aren’t treated;
• physiotherapy becoming a privilege for only those who can afford to pay for private treatment.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy's (CSP) chief executive Karen Middleton has warned that cuts to physiotherapy could end up driving up overall costs for the NHS. This may outweigh any savings made by reducing services.

"Simply cutting services such as physiotherapy will always prove to be a false economy if patients do not get the care they need. Conditions that could easily have been treated will worsen and require further support at a greater cost to the NHS."

A shortage of physiotherapists

Physiotherapists do not feature on the 'shortage occupation list' for migration however the CSP have repeatedly called for this to change.

In 2020, they laid out these key points of their case:

1. Physiotherapy is a skilled profession
2. There is a shortage of physiotherapists and demand is growing
3. Shortages are unlikely to be met from domestic supply alone
4. There is political support for including physiotherapy on the list

National NHS vacancy rates for physiotherapists range between 6% and 20%. A labour force model created by the CSP suggested that the number of newly qualified physios coming out of UK universities would need to grow by 500 pa each year for multiple years to keep pace with demand.

CSP also raise concerns that Covid could act as brake on UK supply of physiotherapists due to effects on the 1,000 hours of training required. They expect delays to placements that could effect student graduations.

And the effect on patients is….

The charity Muscular Dystrophy UK reported in July 2016 that muscular dystrophy patients are missing out “on life-improving treatment, and even dying early, because of a lack of access to specialist physiotherapy”. This is due to a shortage of physiotherapists and lack of funding for physiotherapy.

The charity’s report had numerous findings:

• 60% of people with muscle-wasting conditions were unable to access appropriate physiotherapy.
• Short-term provision of physiotherapy meant patients were receiving little or no benefit from it.
• 20% of patients were paying privately for their physiotherapy.
• 40% of UK neuromuscular centres said they urgently needed increased physio capacity.

The report said there was a ‘serious shortage’ in physio access across much of the country and “inconsistencies in the funding and provision of vital aspects of respiratory physiotherapy and equipment […] leading to avoidable admissions to hospital [...] in some tragic cases, this can even contribute to early loss of life.”