Physiotherapy in your community

The Health Service Executive (HSE) defined primary care as “an approach to care that includes a range of services designed to keep people well, from promotion of health and screening for disease to assessment, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation as well as personal social services.” Primary care teams (PCT) are multi-disciplinary teams that work together in order to manage patients. This team will serve a population of 10,000 people based on the HSE Primary Care Strategy. The team will comprise a general practitioner, public health nurse, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, social worker, health care assistant, home help team, receptionist, clerical officer and administer. Network support will include a pharmacist, dentist, dietician, psychologist, speech and language therapist, early Intervention team and a community welfare officer. There are 10-20 PCTs in each of the 26 Local Health Offices around Ireland. Check out the HSE website http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/2/healthcentres/ to find your nearest primary care centre. 

 The development of primary care aims to relieve pressure from the secondary services. As a result of this aim, the government will be opening more physiotherapy positions around the country in the coming year. Keep an eye on the HSE jobs website http://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/jobs  as well as the other job websites previously mentioned by AOS. 

Until these positions become available, you could find out what services are available in your local area and decide how to enhance these services. Many primary care centres currently have limited resources. By setting up exercise classes, you can create another resource for your local physiotherapist to draw from. Visit your local primary care centre and establish what gaps there are in the services being offered. 

Setting up exercise classes is a great way to get involved in your community as well as promoting health and well-being.

Here are some examples of exercise classes:

-Pilates

-Chronic pain circuit based classes

-Falls prevention

-Bone health

-Disease specific classes: Multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation

-Mental health

-Ante/post-natal education and Pilates

-Swimming classes/Hydrotherapy

-Post Stroke rehabilitation

Local sports clubs are another great way of getting involved in your community and enhancing your skills. http://www.localclubsireland.com/ offers links to 5,858 sports clubs around the country. Find one in your area and contact them to see how you could get involved. It could be providing physiotherapy/first aid to a team during a match or organising fitness training to facilitate health promotion or providing physiotherapy to club members as required. Sports clubs and events are also great ways to get networking!

Although some of these positions may start as volunteering, they can easily become a full-time paid position if you demonstrate your dedication.

Spinal Injuries Ireland are always welcoming volunteers. Check out their website for more information: http://www.spinalinjuries.ie/ Garda vetting is required.

Childhood obesity is now an epidemic in Ireland and as exercise experts, we should be using our skills to educate parents and children alike on how to combat obesity and the risks it poses. Contact your local primary schools to see if you can get involved in P.E. classes and sports promotion. 

We must spread our knowledge to empower the public. 

As you can see there are many ways to get involved in community physiotherapy. There are so many options to build on your skills so don't hesitate to GET INVOLVED!!!

SOF