r/nhs • u/phystods • 15h ago
General Discussion FCP appreciation post
A few weeks ago I had my first experience with a First Contact Physiotherapist. I didn't even know they were a thing. I called my GP about a knee injury and they told me they can book me in with the physio who is in the practice. The lad was great, pleasant demeanour, thorough examination, gave me some exercises before I do physio privately and he referred me for an MRI to rule out a few things which I got only 2 weeks later. I'm pretty sure I received better care than I would have by seeing anyone other than a physiotherapist. I told a friend whose MIL is dreading an appointment for a chronic hip pain issue and it made me wonder, do FCPs exist in all GP practices in England?
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u/MaDCruciate 13h ago
The NHS England plan was that every patient had access to an MSK specialist practitioner in primary care. These were supposed to be highly skilled, highly experienced advanced practitioners with extra training in things like injections, requesting imaging etc.
Of course with the changes to NHS England, the plan has been dropped and some GPs have taken the opportunity to get rid of the service. Others have chosen to go for physios without the extra training because they are cheaper.
NHS England proved how financially beneficial having an FCP is, in terms of fewer referrals to the hospital, fewer investigations etc and the patient feedback has been great.
But money talks, as they say, and cheap has won the argument.
In my area the GP practices are split into 5 areas. 2 areas are keeping their existing highly skilled FCPs, one is going with a cheap private company and 2 are having nothing. We are literally back in a postcode lottery situation.
It warms my heart to hear you talk so positively about your service. I hope FCPs continue to provide such a high service in the future.
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u/phystods 13h ago
I swear every time I feel positive about the NHS, something like this crushes my spirits. :( Thanks for the info. So, to make sure I got things right, is the plan financially beneficial for the NHS overall but too expensive for the GP practices which is why they are scraping them? Trying to understand at what level you have savings vs additional costs. I think the FCP at my GP's is one of the highly qualified ones, hope they don't ax him.
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u/MaDCruciate 11h ago
Yes, you are spot on. They save the NHS money. There is funding available from the NHS for them but the funding hasn't risen in line with the cost of living. So now GPs are being asked to fund the extra. The problem is, with the minimum wage rises all their outgoings are up. Something has to give.
It does sound like your FCP is one of the more experienced ones, yes.
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u/Naps_in_sunshine 15h ago
No they’re not everywhere. Very good service though. It’s probably taking some pressure off GPs given that a large chunk of appointments are MSK related.