I locummed in a lot of different out patient PT departments in the UK and
have worked within a lot of systmes. I have never seen a triage system that
is satsfactory. Doctor referrals, both GP and Consultant just don't have
enough information to accurately prioritise patients. The other option of
having a physio do a 20 minute assess to decide there priority tends to give
good priority but leaves the physio with a tough job with little job
satisfaction and tends to get them looking at job adverts very quickly, also
patients hate it as they travel into hospital for a very short time and then
are often just put back on a waiting list.
The only (kind of) triage system that I have seen have a positive effect on
waiting lists is to have lots of classes and transfer a lot of patients into
them. Obviously not all patients, I do believe the mojority need 1 to 1 PT.
But we had a huge waiting list so we went through and sorted all OA knee
referrals, the patients were contacted and we did full assessments for all
patients and those that were appropriate for class treatment were pur into
classes and those that weren't were kept on. This only would work in a big
department with lots of referrals/week or a department with a huge waiting
list.
What do you mean by independant physiotherapy providers?
Cheers,
John Willenbruch
> I am currently involved in a review of out patient physiotherapy services
> for our primary care trust. I wonder if anyone has any words of wisdom
from
> their own departments experience as to initiatives that have worked well
> for them and equally important those that haven't (you could save me re-
> inventing a square wheel!!). The sort of things I am thinking of are
triage
> systems, self referral schemes, and things that have been tried to balance
> supply and demand. We have some independant physiotherapy providers that
do
> some of the GP work in the Trust and I would be interested to see if
anyone
> has developed a way to provide an equitable service in their areas by
> successful working between the independant sector and the NHS.
> Thanks
> Trish Bailey
>
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