physiotherapy blogs

Ok so it's boring doing blogs rather than doing most other things but it's somewhat surprising that when I searched Google for "physiotherapy blogs" this one came up on first page. So what should my reaction be? Maybe a feeling of dispair that physios (or physical therapists) seem to concentrate their blogging efforts into a limited number of sites and that little has changed from when I pursed this with some enthusiasm 1 year ago. So this is perhaps a test to see if the blog should hibernate for another year. 1 year on from the bulk of the activity I'm a bit jaded by politics in the NHS so mabe I should write some things about physical therapy itself, to be understood by those within the profession.

It's interesting to see how within the profession treatment trends come and go. In the UK the use of electrotherapy is in rapid decline within the NHS. This probably came about partly because the dogmatic pronouncements of its supporters in the 1980s were not based on high quality research but on cherry picked ideas within other areas of clinical research which were then adapted to physical therapy. A deeply engrained issue within the profession in the UK is the all persuasive power of clinical experience , above all other forms of knowledge. Therefore a new therapy is adported not on the basis of overwhelming research but on the basis of demonstrating that patients report benefit from its use. Reflection over the history of the profession shows trends in the popularity of different treatments whch have taken over from older ones. This has occurred not because of large high quality studies but because of the novelty value of new ideas which then appear to give results in clinical practice.The process of new idea adoption, supposed clinical results, peak popularity and decline is demonstrated by the majority of the therapeutic modalities within phyical therapy. Yesterday's treatment was electrotherapy; what is today's?

first post for a year

Why are you spending time looking at blogs instead of going out into the real world?

physiotherapy blogging is a waste of time?

I'm not sure I've got the point of blogging. I don't have a deep emotional need to see my words on the internet and I have a number of other things I'd rather do that sending words into cyberspace. I achieved the number 1 spot on Google for a few weeks running but I could not be bothered to keep it up. I originally had an illusion of making heaps of money from advertising but lost interest in it. I've increasingly been drawn to researching for a potential non-fiction publication and cant see the point of doing a blog. I don't want to make heaps of vitual online "friends" and the virtual world is not nearly as attractive or interesting as the real world. The only reason I'm writing this today is to ensure that the blog remains active on Google in case I need it in the furture to promote my real world writing. As for blogging about physical therapy, the whole thing seems to be so small and narrow minded that it seems a waste of time.

physiotherapy cartoon #4

I wish the NHS would treat me like a person and not a number...


© 2008

physiotherapy blog goes economic-2008-2009 pay award for physios

I've heard rumblings that the pay award for NHS physiotherapists will be set over 3 years and below 3% for this time. I cannot understand why the health unions are so willing to accept anything that seems to be offerered. I'm bothered by the fact that 3 years seems a long time in financial terms and there's a lot of chance for fuel and housing prices to go up by large amounts when many NHS workers will be in effect on fixed incomes. The proposals I saw (or were they the final agreement?) said that there had been some negotiations about reducing working hours, somewhat ironic since Agenda for Change has only just increased them. I don't know how the negotiators or government expect us all to react at the prospect that in real terms we will be accepting a pay cut as we see our income reduced by above inflation rises in council tax, utility bills and energy costs. We still have to live with the concept that inflationremains less than 5%, something which increasingly seems like an figment of the politicians' imagination. The reality is that those things on which we spend the biggest amount of our incomes go up by amounts much larger than so called inflation. Result? The negotiated impovement in NHS salaries acheved by Agenda for Change will over the coming years be clawed back though setting wage settlements below the rate of inflation.

working for a healthier tomorow

When I wrote Physiotherapy Blog on 17 March referring to the issuing of "fitness notes" by GPs I did not realise that on the same day a report was being published. Working for a Healthier Tomorrow , published 17 March, reviews occupational health within the UK. The principles it tries to address are correct but as with much political discussion about health it fails in the details because of a fundamental limitation in the understanding of the complexities of healthcare and the contradictory priorities which exist. Unless there is a willingness to intiate reform which crosses over multiple government depertments then there is the risk that this report will initiate a knee-jerk reaction in the formulation of new policies which fail to address the issue of long term sickness and return to work. In particular there needs to be a coordinated approach between the health and social security systems in the same way that the report states the need for cooperation between the different agencies in the healthcare system. If my reading of the executive summary is correct then its proposals seem to excessively focus on the "micro management" of long term sickness and return to work without sufficiently looking at the ways that government agencies also are failing to address the problem. A regular annoyance for me is having to fill out Work and Pensions agencies forms for patients. I am annoyed on two counts. Firstly (and the minor complaint) is that I am not allocated time within my workload to do these forms so the whole system is inefficient because they have to wait for theit turn within my order of priorities, so if there is a conflict between doing an urgent letter to a doctor reporting a patient's progress or one of these Work and Pensions agency forms then the former will always get m time. However my biggest dislike of these forms comes from the fact they ask the wrong questions both in terms of what I can answer about the claimant and in terms of trying to address disability. It is without a doubt that physiotherapists have a huge potential role in helping return to work but their input will be limited unless there is a shift within the national culture regarding long term sickness and claiming benefit. In this there needs to be a central govenment lead not only in terms of telling health agencies that they have to work better together but also in putting their own house in order.

To see the report go to:

http://www.workingforhealth.gov.uk/documents/working-for-a-healthier-tomorrow-tagged.pdf

physiotherapy blog offers op art

© 2008