Member Article

Occupational Physiotherapy Reduces Sickness Absence Rates in NHS Staff

Occupational Physiotherapy Reduces Sickness Absence Rates in NHS Staff

It is estimated that Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust has saved more than £600,000

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust (BDCFT) has increased productivity and reduced sickness absence amongst its staff after introducing a more flexible Occupational Physiotherapy service.

Employees suffering with injuries or musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are now able to access physiotherapy more quickly and easily, after on-site physiotherapy was made available via the Trust’s occupational physiotherapy partner, Physio Med. The five-days-a-week service across three of the Trust’s sites in Bradford gives staff greater access to treatment during working hours - rather than waiting for appointments with NHS physiotherapists and potentially being absent from work.

BDCFT has worked with Physio Med for a number of years to provide faster access to physiotherapy in order to help staff to recover from injuries and return to work. The new on-site service was introduced at the beginning of 2015 to make it even more accessible, and during that year 319 of the Trust’s 3,000 staff were referred for treatment. Those employees who used the service reported a reduction in their pain levels of 79%, whilst their productivity increased by 33%.

And, by helping staff to return to work more quickly and increase their productivity, the Trust is estimated to have saved a staggering £676,200.*

Joanne Hoban, Occupational Health and Wellbeing Manager at Bradford District Care Foundation Trust, said: “The nature of many of the roles within our organisation means that employees can be susceptible to musculoskeletal injuries. We’re absolutely delighted with these results and increasing access to occupational physiotherapy has been incredibly beneficial to the health and wellbeing of our staff – which in turn means we are able to offer a better service to the public.”

Following the success of the service, the Trust is now working with Physio Med to provide back care classes for employees to help prevent reoccurrence of injuries.

The weekly, on-site half-day sessions will be run by one of Physio Med’s chartered physiotherapists, combining physical exercises with expert advice. Further plans are also in place to offer similar sessions for those who have suffered knee and shoulder complaints.

And, as a further preventative measure, Physio Med is also now offering induction sessions to all new BDCFT employees in order to offer advice and workplace exercises to safeguard against MSDs.

Physio Med’s Managing Director, Phil Clayton, said: “The staff at BDCFT do an incredible job and it’s vitally important that they remain as fit as possible in order to help their patients. When we were approached about broadening our service provision in order to make it more accessible for BDCFT’s employees, we were only too happy to be able to help. Prevention and education is also key so we hope the extra services we are providing will help to further reduce future sickness absence.”

Physio Med provides occupational physiotherapy solutions to several NHS Trusts across the UK, as well as a number of other large organisations.

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust offers care to people with community health, mental health and social care needs, as well as specialist support for those with learning disabilities.

* Figure calculated using the average wait time to access NHS physiotherapy treatment of 14.3 weeks/71.5 days, versus the number of employees discharged from the service, which saved an estimated 6,762 working days at an average cost of £100 per employee per day.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Colin Batchelor .