Harding Physiotherapy Client Update
Updated: 06/07/2020
Message from CSP and Physio First to Private practices in England
Our Governing Bodies have released a joint statement saying the following;
Across the UK, you should be confident to open up your practices and to see patients face to face following the relevant safety and government guidance.
Virtual triage is required in order to determine clinical need through your risk assessments and clinical reasoning skills.
Continue to consider virtual treatment as your first option where possible, leaving time for you to see other patients face-to-face.
They have informed us that further guidance is expected in the coming weeks, so for now we plan to continue our “remote first” preference, particularly in regard to new clients, or existing clients presenting to us with a new complaint or pain, who will require a full 45minute initial assessment.
What does this mean for clients?
Given the subtle change in the wording of their guidance, we now feel that it would be appropriate to offer clients the option of a free 10-15 minute telephone triage. The purpose of this is to discuss whether a face to face appointment or remote assessment is the most appropriate way for you to access our services. During the phone call we will work through our local risk assessment and reach a collaborative decision about if and when to bring you into the clinic for your treatment, or whether it would be possible to meet your needs remotely using Zoom or Skype.
What does the Risk Assessment Cover?
Our risk assessment is for the safety of both our clients, our staff and associated household members. We want to enable those of you who are in need to access our services, but we must ensure that we do this as safely as reasonably possible. We take into consideration various factors, including past medical history, current medication, and impact of symptoms on your daily life (personal, social and work factors). It is important that we also consider the risk to other, potentially more vulnerable, members of your household. In addition to this, we can screen for symptom changes that may suggest we need to refer you on for more urgent input, or that an alternative approach may be more beneficial.
Who is not suitable for Face-to-Face Appointments?
We will screen clients for potential COVID- 19 symptoms prior to attending. Anyone with potential symptoms is asked to not attend the clinic, and to have a remote session instead. Equally, if any of our staff have potential symptoms, they will not attend the clinic, and will carry out remote sessions for you. Certain medical conditions have been identified as making the individual at significantly higher risk from COVID-19 (Clinically extremely vulnerable). These include anyone who:
has had an organ transplant
are having chemotherapy or antibody treatment for cancer, including immunotherapy
are having an intense course of radiotherapy (radical radiotherapy) for lung cancer
are having targeted cancer treatments that can affect the immune system (such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors)
have blood or bone marrow cancer (such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma)
have had a bone marrow or stem cell transplant in the past 6 months, or are still taking immunosuppressant medicine
have been told by a doctor they have a severe lung condition (such as cystic fibrosis, severe asthma or severe COPD)
have a condition that means they have a very high risk of getting infections (such as SCID or sickle cell)
are taking medicine that makes them much more likely to get infections (such as high doses of steroids or immunosuppressant medicine)
have a serious heart condition and are pregnant
Anyone with one or more of the conditions listed above will be offered remote physiotherapy input as our preferred method of providing our services to you at the current time. We will review this as guidelines change in due course. Other conditions can make you at moderate risk from COVID-19, including if you;
are 70 or older
have a lung condition that's not severe (such as asthma, COPD, emphysema or bronchitis)
have heart disease (such as heart failure)
have diabetes
have chronic kidney disease
have liver disease (such as hepatitis)
have a condition affecting the brain or nerves (such as Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy)
have a condition that means they have a high risk of getting infections
are taking medicine that can affect the immune system (such as low doses of steroids)
are very obese (a BMI of 40 or above)
are pregnant
For these people, we would prefer to work with you remotely, but if we cannot meet your clinical need then we can discuss bringing you into the clinic. Wherever possible, we will endeavour to have you as our first client of the day. For those of you who have none of the above listed conditions, and who’s other household members are also relatively low risk, we are now able to offer you the option of a 30 minute face to face physiotherapy appointment, should you wish to use it.
Of course we are more than happy to continue to provide remote services for any client who would prefer this. We recognise that remote services offer the most effective infection prevention, both for our clients and our staff.
We also fully expect some clients to mix and match between face to face and remote sessions, and actively encourage this.
What's Next?
If you would like to discuss any of the above further, possibly make a booking (remote or otherwise!) or have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at the clinic.
As a Company we are taking all measures that we reasonably can to ensure the safety of our staff, clients and their associated households. Please help us to maintain a clean and safe environment by conforming fully with all of the above.
