5 replies to this topic

[Apparelyzed]

Physiotherapists 'can't get work'

Half of all physiotherapists who graduated last year in England cannot find jobs, according to a survey released to the BBC.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy said the government should act urgently to sort out the problem, as NHS money has paid for their training.

In some parts of the country patients are waiting months to see a physio.

The government admitted there was a problem, but said steps were being taken to try to solve it.

The health service - which is responsible for funding training costs of around £30,000 per graduate - adjusts the number of physios it asks universities to train according to its workforce needs.

But in the last couple of years graduates have found themselves frozen out of entry level jobs as the NHS has worked to get rid of financial deficits.

The CSP sent a survey to the 2,126 physiotherapists who graduated in 2007.

Of the 726 who responded only 184 had found a permanent NHS junior post and another 191 were employed on short term contracts.

Overall, the CSP estimates 1,800 physiotherapists who have graduated since 2005 have not been able to find work, potentially wasting the £53m it cost to train them.

Now the NHS in England is forecasting a substantial surplus for this financial year Phil Gray, CPS chief executive, wants the government to employ the backlog of graduates in the health service.

He said: "We are calling on the government to put in a one off investment of £50m, compared to £53m pounds of taxpayers money which is currently being wasted."

Part-time work

Alex Sayer is one of last years physiotherapy graduates from the University of Plymouth.

By now she hoped to be using her skills to look after patients in the NHS.

Instead Alex is working in a surf wear shop in the city, and is about to start voluntary work on top of her job.

"I'm worried after all these months that if I don't use them my skills will deteriorate, it's inevitable if I can't use them," she said.

Alex is now pinning her hopes on a recently advertised NHS job in Liskeard, but the competition is likely to be tough.

The University of Plymouth said its graduates have managed better than the national average - with a little over half finding some kind of physiotherapy job.

But that still leaves a significant minority chasing jobs.

Bernhard Haas is deputy head of the School for Health Professions at the university.

He set up the physio training programme to meet the predicted demand from the NHS. Last year's graduates are the first to finish training.

If they don't get jobs it will created a backlog all chasing the same entry level posts.

Mr Haas said: "It is very frustrating because the work is out there, the patients are waiting to be seen.

"Physiotherapists are key to rehabilitation, helping patients get out of hospitals and back into their own homes.

"A lack of therapists will delay that."

Talent pools

Strategic Health Authorities in England have set up talent pools where graduates can register for information about jobs.

But the CSP said many graduates don't bother to register, and those that do often receive little more than an acknowledgement.

A Department of Health spokesman accepted that there were problems, and said work was being done to try to address them.

"There is more to be done to help existing physiotherapists to progress their careers, thus creating vacancies for new qualifiers, and improving access for graduates to opportunities across the wider health and social care sectors.

"In some parts of country, such as West Yorkshire, newly qualified physios are using their skills in new innovative roles, working as community care officers for local authorities, helping to support hospital discharge.

"This enables physios to carry on practising their skills when the availability of posts in the NHS is very competitive."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.u...th/7200080.stm

[kewlcatkez]

Hi Simon,

unfortunately, its a problem which isn't unique to PTs. indeed, since the majority of Trusts were and some are, in dires straits financially, they have axed thousands of jobs (nurses, PTs, OTs, Carers, Xray and personnel). Many trusts had their staff reapply for the jobs they are already doing! The trust that i worked at did this when i went back to work and i did get my job back altho i no longer work there, but know many who didn't, many of them experienced staff. This then means that they cut those posts and then have no posts to offer to the newly qualified of all those professions/vocations.

Ultimately it will bite them on the arse, as it has done in the past when student places were cut. As in a few years there will be a shortage again, and they will be encouraging Filipino etc RNs and the like to come and bridge the gap. This then means that there is a degree of resentment and also a degree of language difficulties etc. ( they speak generally good english, but often this doesn't extend past nursing terms.) Then there will be a rush to extent places and the cycle continues...


Take care

K

(sorry for lower case/syntax, bad dislocation today making typing hard)

[Apparelyzed]

I know what you mean about nursing, as my wife is a nurse.

She's a Bank Nurse in Leicester, and work has only just started to pick up again from the overspending fiasco of 2006.

She now prefer's the Cardio ward at Glenfield, but if there's nothing else going, she'll work at the General.

Simon

[kewlcatkez]

Apparelyzed, on Jan 21 2008, 06:49 PM, said:

I know what you mean about nursing, as my wife is a nurse.

She's a Bank Nurse in Leicester, and work has only just started to pick up again from the overspending fiasco of 2006.

She now prefer's the Cardio ward at Glenfield, but if there's nothing else going, she'll work at the General.

Simon

Hi Simon,

My Forté is Cardiology and I think that is probably what secured my job the last time at least. This has something ( at least) to do with the National Service Framework and the CHD targets/promises. Here there have been several rounds of this fiasco spanning several years, but the recent ones were the most vicious. By the last rounds I was working as a Senior RN on the Medical Admissions unit ( acute) and so I believe that my experience saved me as I was needed to teach the students...Plus the old "gotta be nice to the cripples'.
Prior to that and before significant disability, I was a Senior RN on CCU. At that time the fact that I had ALS training ( advanced Life Support) etc etc meant that I and the whole unit really were spared.
For some reason i thought that your wife was/is a PT! I hope that work picks up significantly for her and others. Many of the Trusts are now in a better position financially, although Morale is exceptionally low due to the methods undertaken to get them there. Hopefully things will begin to level out and the money which was taken from internal ( and often mandatary ) training, plough back in, and posts "unfrozen".

Good Luck!


Take care,

K

Edited by kewlcatkez, 21 January 2008 - 07:48 PM.

[Apparelyzed]

Quote

For some reason i thought that your wife was/is a PT!

Nope, always been a nurse.

In fact, she was my primary nurse on the spinal unit in Sheffield, and when I left, I sneaked her into my goodie bag!

Some people pinch catheters when they leave, I took a nurse!

She gave up nursing for a while when we were settling down, and went into fashion design, but decided nursing was where she enjoyed the challenges most (and the blood and pain!), so she did her "Return to Practice" in 2005.

Her PIN ran out in November, which has just been renewed, so she's blowing off the cobwebs, and doing a few shifts a week.

I've told her I don't mind, on the condition she doesn't bring any superbugs home!

We have enough with Charlotte!

Simon

[edlee]

It's a shame that it always comes down to money, in the end.

If there was enough money, no one would go without a job. Unfortunately, here we are , in the real world.

Here, in the states, there is a shortage of nurses and many of them jump from job to job, taking advantage of the many perks offered by recruiters ( yes, it has come to that in some places, now). Teachers, on the other hand, often find it difficult to find a job, after college.

I will not debate the issue of socialized medicine, as I see benifits on both sides. I will say, that it seems no one wants to look at where this money , to pay for the extra jobs, is to come from.

As I tell those around me, who ask/demand/expect more from our government, the money to pay for it is coming out of your pocket and mine.

If you aren't willing to pay the additional taxes needed to pay for your desired service/ program/ project,,, then, to continue to expect it to happen seems a bit hypocritical.

Don't get me wrong, I regret that there is anyone who is unable to find the employment that they want. I , simply, don't believe it's the government's place to correct that. Communism aside, I'm not sure it could.
ed