Welsh health minister: ‘I want physios to be part of primary care teams’

_{CSP Welsh board chair Non Griffiths pictured at the meeting with Welsh assembly health committee chair Dr Dai Lloyd}

At a meeting in the Senedd building in Cardiff on 20 September physios and other allied health professionals met politicians and explained how they worked successfully in multidisciplinary and multi-agency teams.

They emphasised that they could provide solutions to the pressures on primary care services, where from 20 to 30 per cent of consultations with GPs are about musculoskeletal problems.

Vaughan Gething, the health minister, addressed the meeting via a video link and said he wanted physiotherapists to be part of primary care teams.

‘As we think about the huge challenges facing health and social care today, it’s clear that we can’t keep doing the same things in the same way,’ he said.

‘We need to change and this group of professionals is the one that can help us to achieve that change.’

Chaired by Aberavon AM David Rees, the meeting was organised by the CSP Welsh board and eight other professional bodies representing allied health and social care professions.

‘This was a great opportunity for CSP members to meet their AMs and talk about what physiotherapy has to offer,’ said Ms Ford.

‘The politicians were very interested in their work and as a result several visits to physiotherapy services will be set up. It was an excellent event that demonstrated how well all the professions work in partnership.’

In a separate speech the same day, Mr Gething said work would be undertaken to enable the Welsh government to understand the range of skills needed in primary care to meet current and predicted future demand.

He said this analysis of workforce need would enable the government to deliver targeted marketing campaigns and comprehensive workforce training and development programmes at both health board and national level.

The Welsh Programme for Government, published on 20 September, sets out plans to continue to promote exercise and to introduce a ‘Wales Wellbeing Bond’, aimed at improving physical health and reducing sedentary lifestyles.

It sets out a commitment to move more care and services from hospitals into communities, supported by integrated and sustainable health and care services.