Physio service gains ‘gold standard’ occupational health accreditation

_{Crystal Palace Physio Group team: Stuart Paterson, director; Kathryn Moore, team leader and occupational health physiotherapist; Miles Atkinson, head of occupational health services}

Miles Atkinson, a physiotherapist and head of occupation health services at the Crystal Palace Physio Group, said the accreditation had been confirmed on 27 July.

SEQOHS accreditation is a formal recognition that an occupational health service provider has the competence to deliver to set standards.

The scheme is managed by the Royal College of Physicians on behalf of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.

Crystal Palace Physio Group’s accreditation followed a pilot scheme run in collaboration with the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Occupation Health and Ergonomics.

The pilot tested the applicability of the SEQOHS scheme for occupational health physiotherapy services.

Stuart Paterson, founder of the Crystal Palace practice, said: ‘SEQOHS is recognised as the gold standard assessment in the occupation health industry and it is fantastic now that it has been extended to occupational health physiotherapy.’

CSP professional adviser Jenny Nissler also welcomed the development, saying: ‘This is very good news and hopefully the first of many physiotherapy services to successfully gain SEQOHS accreditation.

‘This external accreditation could translate into benefits all round - for physiotherapy services, healthcare commissioners, employers and employees.’

While his practice was the first, Mr Atkinson expects others to be accredited later this year.

He described the assessment process as ‘holistic’ because it was not just concerned with the ‘nitty gritty’ of physiotherapy practice, but auditing and the health and wellbeing of staff. The professional development and health and safety of physios were including in the measurements taken by SEQOHS.

‘This has been a long time coming,’ said Mr Atkinson. ‘And it was a very stressful process to go through, but well worthwhile.’