The Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Service at HRCH has developed a new service improvement initiative, which is helping to reduce waiting times for patients with hip and knee symptoms.
The new Joint Education Programme allows two physiotherapists to assess and treat 16 patients in a group clinic, lasting two hours, instead of assessing patients one-to-one.
During the sessions, each patient receives an assessment, an education session about hip / knee pain, self-management advice on flare ups, pacing, goal setting, and analgesia management, and is given appropriate exercises. Patients are also advised to contact the service if symptoms worsen.
After 12 weeks, patients have a telephone follow-up appointment to review progress and for support in continuing to self-manage their symptoms. If symptoms do not improve, patients can book in for a one-to-one physiotherapy follow-up appointment or discuss alternative options with the team.
Patient feedback on the programme has been positive so far, and 35% of patients have shown a significant improvement on patient reported outcome measures, whilst 73% of patients have been discharged with self-management advice at their 12-week review, with no further input needed.