Year published: 2017
To increase ability to self-manage and prevent needs developing, people must have access to expert advice from a wider range of professionals within their General Practice on the basis of the ‘Most Appropriate Professional’
Physiotherapists and GPs are working together to establish successful GP Physiotherapy roles as part of the GP team in many areas
These successful pilots need national and local support to overcome transactional barriers (including through incentives) to being scaled up and made mainstream
These roles have focused on musculoskeletal health, an area where significant progress could be made
These roles also have the potential to go beyond MSK - advanced practice physiotherapists need to deploy their skills as expert generalists to manage a wider range of health conditions and provide public health advice
Physiotherapists and other members of an expanded General Practice team need to be able to issue Fit Notes as part of their role in supporting people to be fit for work
To develop the expanded GP team, integrated with other primary and community sector services, there needs to be much more multi-professional training
For community engagement and service-user participation to happen it needs to be built into the process of service redesign in primary and community care.