Physiotherapists ready to radically change the delivery of health and social care in Northern Ireland

This includes the formal establishment of practice-based physiotherapists working alongside GP’s, mental health specialists, social workers and nurses to better meet the needs of the local population.

Commenting on the announcement, Tom Sullivan, policy and public affairs manager for the CSP in Northern Ireland, said:

‘The CSP very much welcomes this announcement as a positive step towards implementing the Delivering Together strategy for transforming health and social care services in Northern Ireland.

‘The current service model is not financially or practically sustainable to care for an ageing population with increasingly complex needs. To address these challenges it is essential that resources are focused on transforming how services are delivered across the health and social care system, such as embedding physiotherapists as part of multi-disciplinary teams at GP Practices.

‘This will help deliver the transformation of health services at a critical time and ensure that patients are better able to access the right care at the right time in the right location. These posts will also help cut secondary referrals, save money and reduce pressure on GPs.

‘The Department needs to move forward on implementing these roles across Northern Ireland as a matter of urgency.’

The CSP has been working with GPs and decision makers in developing the role of General Practice Physiotherapists. This is where experienced physiotherapists take on a proportion of the GPs caseload.  These posts are already well established across the rest of the UK.