GPs need to be aware of the dire situation surrounding recruitment of physiotherapists, because they are continually involved in referrals to them.
This year there were 2,500 physiotherapy graduates. Of those, 95 per cent are unemployed.
A few weeks ago, I joined 500 other physiotherapy students to go to Westminster to lobby our MPs. On the train home, I happened to sit next to a GP. The conversation turned to what I had been doing in London. When I explained the situation, the GP said ‘I thought there were lots of physiotherapy jobs, just not enough physios’.
The physiotherapist who worked at his practice had had her hours cut by half, and he had been told that the PCT could not find another to fill the role because there were not enough graduates.
Amie Whittal
Undergraduate physiotherapy student, Bristol
