Your comments: 5 September 2018

Rochdale physios celebrate NHS birthday

As part of the NHS 70th birthday celebrations, the physiotherapy team at Rochdale Infirmary, in Lancashire, held a celebration tea party for patients, families and staff. 

Patients and staff all came together to share their positive experiences and memories from the days when the NHS was founded 70 years ago.  People were encouraged to climb the physiotherapy steps and, while they did so, read a timeline we had mounted on the wall that showed how the NHS developed. 

There was also music from the 1940s, and people gathered to watch an NHS 70 video explaining how the service was founded and how it has evolved over the decades since then.

As physiotherapists, our team is proud to work for the health service and privileged to be able to help people and make a difference. Long may the NHS continue.

• Liane Hickling, Bradford

Interstitial lung disease

In the last year, I have set up a network for physiotherapists specialising in interstitial lung disease. It is a bit of a niche area and I previously didn’t have any way of liaising or networking with other physios working with this patient group.

The aim is to hold bi-annual meetings across different localities, creating opportunities to share ideas and best practice, troubleshoot and share new guidelines or research. We want to provide educational opportunities within the group and to wider networks related to chronic lung conditions.

So far, we have some 20 members and have held three meetings. The next meeting is planned for 8 November in London (the venue to be confirmed). 

Anyone interested in joining should email me: siobhan.singh@nhs.net

• Siobhan Singh, Cambridge

Wrapping it up

I was just about to sit down and fire off an email, but there in the very latest edition of Frontline was a posting about the plastic covering. 

I know we still need a magazine – not everyone is online nor wishes to be – but I think we all need to do more for the planet. 

• Morag Wood, Cumbria

Drivetime listening

As a busy community physio who spends a lot of time driving, I’d love to access Frontline through some sort of audio feature , like a podcast where everything is read out. Not sure whether this is possible, but it sure would use that time more productively than listening to the radio.

• Rebecca Dall

Mark Gould, acting editor Frontline, replies

Thanks for your comment. Podcast listening is on the rise as the way we ‘consume’ our media changes apace. Latest Ofcom data show that one in four people have done this at least once in the past year.  Keep your ears tuned for Frontline the Musical.