Table Of ContentAllied Health Professions
Patient Self Referral
A guide for therapists
Lesley Holdsworth
Clinical Effectiveness Co-ordinator
NHS Forth Valley
Stirling
and
Valerie Webster
Associate Dean (Quality)
School of Health and Social Care
Glasgow Caledonian University
Boca Raton London New York
Radcliffe Publishing
CRC Press is an imprint of the
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First published 2006 by Radcliffe Publishing
Published 2018 by CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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© 2006 by Lesley Holdsworth and Valerie Webster
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ISBN-13: 978-1-84619-165-7 (pbk)
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This book is dedicated to the very many physiotherapists throughout the UK and in
particular the Scottish Physiotherapists Self Referral Study Group. On a personal
level, we also dedicate these words to our 'Richards' and our girls, Claire, Rachel,
Harriet, Kirsten and Nicole and thank them all for being so patient and under
standing of us and forgiving our absences, we couldn't have done this without any
of you!
Contents
About the authors vii
Introduction ix
Why write this guide? ix
Who this book is for ix
How to use this guide x
Parti 1
1 Background 3
2 Why consider patient self-referral? 7
3 Legal and professional considerations 11
4 What do we mean by patient self-referral? 19
3 Checklist 23
6 Useful websites 25
7 Further reading 27
Part II 29
8 Before you start 31
9 Know your population 33
10 Know your service 35
11 What kind of patient self-referral service is right for you? 37
12 The most frequently asked questions 45
13 Making critical friends 5 3
14 Checklist 57
15 Further reading 59
Partili 61
16 Preparing for implementation 63
17 Publicising the change in access to your service 67
18 Measuring and demonstrating impact 73
19 Checklist 87
20 Further reading 89
PartIV 91
21 Final countdown to implementation 93
22 Publicising the launch of your service 95
23 The final countdown 97
Appendix I Sample referral forms 99
vi Patient self-referral: a guide for therapists
Appendix Π Sample poster 101
Appendix ΠΙ National self-referral dataset 103
Appendix IV Sharing effective physiotherapy practice (SEPP) dataset 105
Appendix V Referral tool 107
Appendix VI Patient self-referral anticipated referral rate calculator 109
Appendix VII Four abstracts 111
Appendix VIII Glossary 115
Index 121
About the authors
Lesley Holdsworth trained as a physiotherapist during the 1970s, working in a
variety of settings throughout the UK. She has been working in Scotland since 1983
and developed an interest in service evaluation soon after arriving. National
research fellowships and secondments during the late 1980s and early 1990s further
developed this interest, particularly with regard to patient access and service
provision. For the last 10 years she has been working with the full range of health
professionals and is the lead for clinical effectiveness within NHS Forth Valley.
Lesley was the co-founder and developer of the AHP National Clinical Effectiveness
Networks that are now an integral part of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.
Most recently she has been a member of the Advisory Group of the National
Framework for Service Change, a group charged by the Health Minister to put
forward the vision for the NHS in Scotland and from which current policy is based.
She also sits on a number of national and UK-wide policy and professional groups.
Despite having wide-ranging multiprofessional interests, Lesley has maintained
strong professional links with physiotherapy, contributing to the work of the
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy for which she was awarded a fellowship in
2003. This is also apparent in her major research interest, which, for the last 10
years, in conjunction with Valerie, has been in developing and evaluating the
efficacy of patient self-referral systems in physiotherapy both nationally and
internationally, about which she has widely published and presented. Lesley is
currently working in collaboration with the CSP as an advisor to the Department of
Health in England about patient self-referral services.
Valerie Webster also trained as a physiotherapist in the 1970s. Her interest in
research related to practice and service evaluation developed whilst she was working
within the NHS. It was during this time that she and Lesley first got together to work
collaboratively comparing service provision in different health areas. Valerie
moved into Higher Education in the early 1990s when she took up a post as a
physiotherapy lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University. Working in partnership
she has lead the development of physiotherapy undergraduate and inter-professional
postgraduate education programmes. She is currently Associate Dean (Quality) for
the School of Health and Social Care and divides her time between this role and
developing her research areas.
In conjunction with Lesley, her friend and colleague, a key area of research has
for the past 10 years been developing and evaluating patient self-referral systems
nationally and internationally. They have together presented and published widely
on the subject. Currently she is working in collaboration with the Chartered Society
of Physiotherapy as an advisor to the Department of Health in England about
patient self-referral services.
Inter-professional learning and working forms the second strand of her practice
and research interests. Her work in this area has led her, on behalf of two univer
sities, to Chair a steering group developing inter-professional education and research
involving nine different health and social care professions. She is a member of the
Higher Education Academy and works closely with the professional body, NHS
partners and the Quality Assurance Agency.
Introduction
Why write this guide?
We have been involved in introducing and evaluating patient self-referral physio
therapy services for over 10 years. What do we actually mean by patient self-
referral? We have defined this as:
... a system of access which allows patients to refer themselves to a
healthcare provider directly without having to see or be prompted by
another healthcare practitioner. This relates to telephone, electronic
technology or face-to-face services.
Over the last 10 years we have lost count of the enquiries we have fielded from all
over the UK and from many other countries worldwide. We have been contacted by
a wide range of healthcare providers: clinical staff from a variety of professions;
therapists, nurses and doctors; service managers; professional bodies; and
healthcare policy makers. They have raised all sorts of issues and, initially some
what surprising to us, has been the fact that regardless of profession, viewpoint,
geographical setting and/or system of funding the questions have been the same.
The most frequently asked questions have been:
• 'Where do we start?'
• 'How do we go about it?'
• 'What do we need to do?'
• 'Are there any professional issues?'
• 'Are there specific training needs for staff?'
• 'How do we publicise it?'
• 'Will we able to cope with all the referrals?'
• 'What information should we collect?'
• 'How do we demonstrate impact?'
Purpose
We have tried to answer specific and general enquiries, but we always come back to
the fact that the key determinant of success lies in how you prepare: doing your
homework, really doing your homework and making 'critical friends'. This book is
not intended to be an in-depth academic text about patient self-referral; rather, it is
a practical guide that should help to take you 'relatively stress-free' through the
very important key stages of preparation. We hope it will provide useful hints and
tips to assist you in your decision-making and, if you decide to go ahead, will ensure
you as successful and painless a transition as possible. The content is based on the
knowledge we have gained through bitter (and sweet!) experience, and it is a
representation of our personal views.
Who this book is for
This book is aimed at allied health professionals, but is also highly relevant to other
healthcare practitioners.
