In House Physiotherapy Services…. Why having a physio in your office is FANTASTIC!
Finding the time to get treatment for an injury when you are in full time work can be a downright hassle. Health insurance helps, in most cases it means you can see a therapist quicker, offers you greater flexibility when scheduling your physio appointment, and (at Central Health Physiotherapy) will ensure that you see someone with at least 5 years post graduate experience. But it is still a hassle for many.
What do you do when a meeting is suddenly thrown in your diary meaning you can’t make the appointment, or the weight of your workload means that finding the time to leave the office, and travel to the physio clinic is adding more stress than the benefits of the session?
What if you haven’t got the luxury of health insurance? Only 11% of the population are fortunate enough to have it.
What if you commute from outside London, and seeing an NHS physio means taking the time off to see your local NHS GP first, and then waiting weeks or even months for the letter offering you your first physio appointment, only for it to clash with a day when you need to be in the office. What then?
Just imagine having a physiotherapist down the corridor from you at work!
Well, that is what I do! I work two days a week as an in-house physiotherapist for a City firm. I treat a combination of work related problems, eg. neck pain, low back pain, and sports injuries. In the company I work for, the work related and GP referral conditions are free, and the rest pay a subsidised fee for their session.
Having an in-house Physiotherapy service provides a very practical solution for both staff and employers. Staff have quick access to appointments with their physiotherapist meaning less time away from their desk. Being able to see staff more quickly usually means fewer sessions are needed to resolve the problem. Less time attending appointments and usually fewer appointments means that the firm as a whole can save time and money.
The physio service may be one afternoon a week, or a full time position within a company. Having a physiotherapist there helps to create a caring understanding and supportive atmosphere at work.
Setting up an in-house physiotherapy service is extremely easy to do. We don’t need much space. Just a room big enough to use as a treatment room. We are used to working as sole practitioners but it’s also great if you have an occupational health department as then we can work with the rest of the team to help manage sickness absence.
One of the things that I love most about working as an in-house physiotherapist is understanding the nature of the company I work for. Whether it’s law, banking, media or government work to name a few, each work place will have its unique challenges for us to tackle in order to minimise work related aches and pains. The more we understand the specific working culture, the better placed we are to support staff in managing their problems.
We will also take up the slack of doing the less popular jobs at work, such as DSE (workstation) assessments and manual handling if that helps too. We can also offer Pilates, running assessments and cycle set up sessions if there is the interest for it.
If you are considering having a physiotherapist in the office, please speak to one of our team who will be delighted to give you a more information.
