The New Musculoskeletal Practitioners at East Quay Medical Centre for Winter 2016/2017

A new effective diagnosis and treatment option for joint and muscular problems

We are pleased to be able to offer our patients an additional service from 1st October 2016. There is very good evidence that an early appointment with a Musculoskeletal Clinical Specialist improves outcomes for people with new onset joint and muscular problems.

The Practitioners, who have trained as Physiotherapists, will be able to assess your condition, and offer management advice as well as order any tests if necessary or refer on to other local services such as orthopaedics, physiotherapy and podiatry.

You can expect an expert assessment, exercise advice and self-management support as well as other treatments as needed.Note, this is not for ongoing treatment – if you need this, you will be referred on to the appropriate NHS physiotherapy service.

This service will be available every week day and we hope your appointment will be within that day or the next. When calling reception to book your appointment for muscular, back or joint problems, you will be invited to see the Musculoskeletal Practitioner. We have trained our reception team to ensure your appointment is with the right person with the best expertise to help you.

On arrival to the clinic you will be asked to fill in some details, so it would be advisable to attend a few minutes prior to your appointment.

This is part of a pilot that will run for 6 months, until 31st March 2017. The aim of the pilot is to look at whether this expertise and service in the GP practice gives good outcomes for our patients. There are not enough GPs nationally, and one of the things we need to do to manage this is to work out ways to provide good care for our patients using other practitioners.

As it is important that we know whether the service works for you, we will ask those who use the service to take part in short satisfaction questionnaires – either directly after the assessment or a little while after.