Call for better physio services

The Government is being urged to provide better physiotherapy services for people with neuromuscular conditions.

Over 100 families, clinicians and campaigners will be lobbying Parliament and petitioning Downing Street.

They are calling on the Government to recognise the specialist nature of neuromuscular services such as Muscular Dystrophy and improve access to ongoing therapies.

The move follows the findings of a report published by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

'Building on the Foundations: Focus on Physio', reveals that despite physiotherapy helping sufferers maintain the best quality of life, it is often restricted to adults and children who display improvement.

The report found that those with progressive or chronic neuromuscular conditions are often refused physiotherapy on the NHS, forcing them to pay for the services privately, or go without.

The MDC report's findings are based on a Freedom of Information request and a survey of patients.

It found many patients with neuromuscular conditions did not receive continuous specialist physiotherapy or any physiotherapy at all and two out of three Primary Care Trusts (PCTS) in England failed to provide ongoing physiotherapy privately.

In one case, a patient had to fundraise to receive physiotherapy privately, after waiting for treatment for over a year.

It also found one in five Trusts failed to provide financial support for physiotherapists to attend training courses in neuromuscular conditions.

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?