Bournemouth University scholars bring down local NHS waiting list
A group of Physiotherapy students from Bournemouth University and their lecturer ran a special clinic at Christchurch Hospital on 7th December to help reduce waiting times for patients with shoulder pain.
Despite being in the middle of their exam period, the group of fourteen students were invited to join the hospital’s Musculoskeletal Team for an afternoon where they were able to treat over 20 patients who had been waiting for treatment for rotator cuff related shoulder pain.
Upon arrival, patients were greeted by the students and given a questionnaire fill out. They were then assessed by the hospital’s specialist shoulder physiotherapist Emily Middleton and her team of Upper limb physios who diagnosed their personal needs and prescribed an appropriate exercise regime.
After their assessment, they were sent down to the gym where the students were based. In pairs, the students took the patients through the designated rehabilitation programme, overseen by their supervisor Alex Dunford, Lecturer in Physiotherapy at Bournemouth University.
“Our students were fantastic today and were really keen to do what they can to help people in our community,” Alex said. “We work very closely with our friends at Christchurch Hospital, who provide many of our students with work placements during their studies. I am glad we could help them tackle their waiting list,” she added.
Bournemouth University and University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (which Christchurch Hospital is a part of) work in partnership to the benefit of patients, students, staff and the wider community. This year, they marked the second anniversary of their partnership.
Currently there are 1,500 Bournemouth students in placement programmes in the trust, actively working in hospitals to provide patient care.
The special physiotherapy clinic last week was a new initiative between the university and the trust and because of its success, they will look to set up similar projects for patients waiting for physiotherapy treatment soon.
Emily, Upper Limb Clinical lead at Christchurch Hospital reflected; “We were really excited to work collaboratively with the students. Thanks to their contributions we were able to offer a proof of concept clinic to mirror national endeavours and reduce not only patient waiting times but hopefully as a result of the thorough interaction with the students we can reduce the need for in person follow up.”