Development and evaluation of a community respiratory physiotherapy service for children with severe neurodisability

"This small study suggests that a community respiratory physiotherapy service can reduce hospital admissions and bed days for disabled children. The admissions cost savings have enabled the service to "pay for itself"."

Development and evaluation of a community respiratory physiotherapy service for children with severe neurodisability
A Wolff, H Griffin, M Flanigan, S Everest, D Thomas, W Whitehouse
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u208552.w3411

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Is cost effectiveness sustained after weekend inpatient rehabilitation?

"Our previous work showed that providing additional rehabilitation on a Saturday was cost effective in the short term from the perspective of the health service provider. This study aimed to evaluate if providing additional rehabilitation on a Saturday was cost effective at 12 months"

Is cost effectiveness sustained after weekend inpatient rehabilitation? 12 month follow up from a randomized controlled trial
N Kareem Brusco, JJ Watts, N Shields, NF Taylor
BMC Health Services Research 2015, 15:165  doi:10.1186/s12913-015-0822-3

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Allied health professionals - Can we measure quality of care?

"In this report, we explore the quality of care and services delivered by allied health professionals (AHPs). AHPs are a group of autonomous practitioners who work with many other professionals and at many points along the care pathway." 

Focus on: Allied health professionals - Can we measure quality of care? (Quality Watch)
H Dorning, M Bardsley
Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
September 2014

Read more here.

Sport and Exercise Medicine: A Fresh Approach in Practice

"The diverse range of sport and exercise services in this document highlights the opportunities to commission new services to positively improve health and health economics in the NHS." 

Sport and Exercise Medicine: A Fresh Approach in Practice: a National Health Service information document
Weiler R, Jones N et al.
Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine
July 2014

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Quality of physical therapy from a patient’s perspective

"We recommend a thrice-yearly, shorter survey of triangulated patients who are randomly selected from the Electronic Medical Records. Besides this, a visible and mandatory complaint desk (physical or digital) should be implemented to monitor the quality of care at all times. If need be, the Inspectorate can audit the low performing practices based on the number of complaints or low performance on the surveys."

Quality of physical therapy from a patient’s perspective; factor analysis on web-based survey data revealed three dimensions on patient experiences with physical therapy
M Scholte, H Calsbeek, MWG Nijhuis-van der Sanden, J Braspenning
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14: 266

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Two new QIPP themed cased studies

NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has published two new QIPP case studies:

• Self management for chronic knee pain: using group physiotherapy to teach exercises and coping strategies - 
• Wireless working in hospitals: improving efficiency and safety of out-of-hours care 

Improving care for patients with musculoskeletal conditions

"Patients with muscular and joint pain have seen care improve and waiting times cut as part of a pilot saving the NHS tens of thousands of pounds." Improvements introduced include:

• Call referral management centre to coordinate physiotherapy referrals
• Physiotherapy available at GP practices
• Physiotherapy telephone assessment service
• Orthopaedics, sport and exercise medicine specialists as part of the clinical assessment team

Find out more about this pilot scheme here.

Fit enough for patients?

"Physiotherapy services play a vital role in improving staff health and wellbeing, and many of the trusts highlighted in this report are already putting physiotherapy at the heart of wellbeing services for staff."

Fit enough for patients? An audit of workplace health and wellbeing services for NHS staff
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
March 2013

Read more here.

Systematic review of knowledge translation strategies in the allied health professions

"The present study is the first systematic review of the effectiveness of a variety of knowledge translation interventions in five allied health disciplines: dietetics, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and speech-language pathology."

Systematic review of knowledge translation strategies in the allied health professions
SD Scott, et al.
Implementation Science, 2012, 7:70

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The barriers and facilitators to routine outcome measurement by allied health professionals in practice

"Routine outcome measurement may only be deliverable if appropriate action is taken at individual therapist, team, and organisational levels of an organisation."

The barriers and facilitators to routine outcome measurement by allied health professionals in practice: a systematic review
EAS Duncan, J Murray
BMC Health Services Research, 2012, 12:96

Read more here.