Bristol-based physio addresses international conference in Paris

Company news

Mar 27, 2014

The lead physiotherapist at Emersons Green NHS Treatment Centre is set to present the findings of a ground-breaking joint replacement rehabilitation study, carried out at the Bristol centre, at an international conference in Paris.

The 19th annual International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare will take place at the Palais des Congrès, Paris, on 8-11 April 2014; Mini Jacob, the lead physiotherapist, and Maddalena Amadori, the senior Physiotherapist, will be hosting a poster presentation of the study which was carried out over three months at the centre at the centre run by independent healthcare provider Care UK in The Brooms, Emerson Green.

The highly successful study saw the time an average patient spent in hospital following a complete knee replacement fall by up to 50 per cent and patient satisfaction dramatically increase. Mini explained: “Previously people could expect to spend four days recuperating after surgery. People didn’t like this as they wanted to get back to their homes and families.

“We trialled the idea of increasing the amount of physiotherapy people received, both in hospital and outside, in order to speed up the recovery process. People have been delighted at the results, with the percentage rates for satisfaction continually in the high 90s.”

Four hours after surgery, patients are mostly (around 80 per cent) able to get out of bed for a brief period, giving them the confidence to begin physiotherapy the next day. The next two days are taken up with two or three sessions of physiotherapy a day and patients leave the centre two or three days after their operations.

Mini said: “The early intervention builds confidence and strength. People leave with a full set of exercises, a mobile phone app that contains videos showing them how to do the exercises and the number of our 24-hour helpline, just in case they have any queries or concerns. They also have a full schedule of physiotherapy booked so they know that, as well as monitoring their own improvement, we will be there with them every step of the way.”

The pilot, which was held at the Emerson Green centre and then Care UK’s Shepton Mallet NHS Treatment Centre, was so successful that it has been fully adopted by the centres and will be rolled out across Care UK’s treatment centres nationwide.

The Paris conference will be attended by around 3,000 delegates from more than 80 countries and Mini hopes the work carried out in Bristol will help to improve patients’ experience of recovery internationally. She said: “I’m very excited about attending the conference and I can see that what we have learnt in Bristol could be put into action throughout Europe and beyond.”

Back in Bristol, the change has also meant that the centre can now carry out more surgeries a year as this frees up bed capacity. This has been a truly multi-disciplinary team effort that improved the patient experience in totality. Hospital director Pamela Mackie said: “The team’s work has not only meant that patients have a speedier and more robust recovery but that we can help greater numbers of people requiring knee replacements, an operation that enables people return to work, to continue caring for their family and exercising pain-free.

“I hope that the delegates at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare find Mini’s work as helpful and informative as we have.”