Innovations

This study evaluates the First Contact MSK Physiotherapy (FCP) role within Primary Care in Taunton, Somerset.

The population of older people is rapidly growing and many are not living in good health; this escalating problem has significant economic and resource implications but more importantly impacts on individual quality of life in later years. In recognition of this 'perfect storm' the importance of embedding prevention strategies and health promotion interventions specific to older people is widely recognised. One approach to tackling this, Making Every Contact Count (MECC), empowers staff to initiate opportunistic conversations with people who report 'risky' health behaviours, supporting the first positive steps towards health behaviour change and self-management.

This quality improvement project was initiated following a record keeping audit which identified that healthy lifestyle conversations were recorded in only 19% of clinical records. It aimed to increase the number of documented healthy lifestyle conversations that clinicians have with Integrated Community Team patients.

To describe the transformation process undertaken over two and half years and share our experience of the redesign in both terms of success and challenges.

Traditionally the Electrical Stimulation (ES) of muscles was a frequently used adjunct for rehabilitation following nerve injury. More recently its use has been in decline. An international collaborative group of therapists with a special interest in Traumatic Brachial Plexus Injuries (TBPI) was formed in 2017. One of the objectives of the group is to assess and improve the evidence base surrounding the rehabilitation of TBPI. Disparity within the group with regards to the use of ES highlighted the need to explore current practice and the reasons for variability in use.

Advancement in healthcare has led to people living longer. This has made older adults' care become a concern in the United Kingdom. There is added pressure on hospitals, social services and the government in the human and financial resources needed for their care. County councils are using reablement which focuses on relearning skills for independence to reduce older adults' care cost. This study focused on evaluating the reablement of older adults in a centre in the north of England for areas of improvement. The centre helps facilitate discharges from hospitals. The evaluation became necessary due to the recurrent admissions of some clients. It was also important to know the perceptions of the recipients of reablement to incorporate in improvement of the service.

The purpose of the study was to find out the perceptions of older adults 65 years and over admitted in a specialist care centre about the reablement provided to increase their independence to return home.

Metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) is a well-recognised complication of cancer. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) provided clinical guidelines regarding assessment and management of patients with back pain and cancer history with suspected spinal cord compression; NICE CG-75. This study aims to determine if patients are managed appropriately and in a timely manner, according to these guidelines.

Adults with long-term neurological conditions have low levels of participation in physical activities and report many barriers to exercise. This study used a mixed methods approach to evaluate participant experiences and outcomes following participation in student-led, community-based neurological groups and to explore the feasibility of performing a full-scale study.

To evaluate whether service improvements could be made to our community physiotherapy service through clinical streaming of patient referrals using underlying principles complexity science to consistently deploy the most appropriate member of the physiotherapy team to meet the needs of patients and improve the effectiveness of our service.

An audit on length of stay (LOS) for total knee replacement (TKR) patients following surgery highlighted that a number of patients were exceeding their predicted date of discharge (PDD), many due to not achieving traditional physiotherapy goals (90⁰ flexion, < 5 ° extension lack and good quadriceps function), despite being safely mobile and medically fit. This exposes patients to risk of harm due to prolonged stay within an acute hospital environment as well as inefficient utilisation of an in-patient bed. A Physiotherapy Supported Discharge Service (PSDS) had previously been piloted for six months. Phase 2 consisted of permanent service resign, continuing the PSDS and service evaluation.

It was recognised that the neuro-rehabilitation unit had a length of stay above the national average of 80 days. A new multidisciplinary goal planning process was implemented on the unit with the following aims; reduce length of stay to the national average; reduce the waiting list to 1 week; to consistently achieve greater than 70% patient and family/carer satisfaction.  The impact on the FIM/FAM outcome measure was monitored to ensure there were no adverse effects on patient outcome as a result of implementing the new process.