CSP policy statement
Rehabilitation, including physiotherapy, is essential in saving the lives of people with Covid-19 and in enabling people to live their lives to the full.
Rehabilitation must be recognised as an unmissable part of Covid-19 recovery, and leaders and policymakers need to be taking urgent action to ensure that this is delivered.
In delivering rehabilitation, the physiotherapy workforce is essentially involved in every stage and at all levels of the Covid-19 trajectory. They have the skills and knowledge that are critical and must be deployed accordingly to support recovery.
Essential rehabilitation for patients, recovering from serious illness or injury must continue to be provided through the pandemic, with services adapting to make this possible.
The CSP believes a comprehensive strategic approach to meeting rehabilitation needs is required as we work to help the recovery from the pandemic. This includes the needs of people recovering from Covid-19 and those whose rehabilitation has been interrupted and whose condition has deteriorated due to the period of self-isolation and lockdown.
Specific plans may need to vary by country or locality but the needs of the population and the underlying principles of good rehabilitation will be the same across the UK and crown dependencies.
The CSP also believes that this is an opportunity to drive improvements in rehabilitation services and development of the workforce to deliver this.
This statement sets out what we believe are the priority actions required by policymakers and system leaders nationally and locally.
The CSP is calling on the Government to:
- Develop a national strategy for quality rehabilitation, making it an integral part of the healthcare system
- Expand and modernise rehabilitation services to meet the scale of need both Covid and non-Covid related – with particular focus on delivering it in the community
- Grow the multi-disciplinary rehabilitation workforce, with the right skills and staff needed
- Learn from the impetus and changes needed to respond to the pandemic and use it to shape the future of rehabilitation
- Measure the needs and impact of rehabilitation – record the right things so the system can cater for them
