International interest

Over the last six months the CSPs workforce and education team and the HCPC have been working closely to develop and pilot a learning module for internationally qualified physios who are studying post-graduate Master's degrees in physiotherapy subjects in the UK.

Hannah Morley, CSP professional advisor, and Kim Tolley, HCPC professional liaison consultant, have piloted this module with students on the MSc Physiotherapy programme at Cardiff University.

Hannah says: ‘The module introduces international graduates to the work of the CSP and HCPC and explains the HCPC standards of proficiency and the CSP’s professional guidance advice and documents. It’s been great to see students embedding the learning as they move towards entering the UK workforce.’

The programme was delivered in six sessions, using  blended in-person and online delivery with many interactive learning elements. Student feedback was positive, with one student reflecting ‘It was so engaging. Honestly it’s the first time I enjoyed learning about rules!’

Amy Bendall and Karen Jones, Cardiff University MSc Physiotherapy programme managers, also reflected positively on the course.

‘We were delighted to be approached by HCPC/CSP regarding this partnership. Our MSc programme recruits a cohort of approximately 100 international students, many of whom apply for HCPC registration and go on to be employed as physiotherapists working in the UK. 

‘Therefore, the initiative gave us the opportunity to collaborate in designing important learning resources to support the future employability of our internationally graduated students. 

‘Anecdotally, the resultant learning programme was incredibly well received by students, and the comments from the evaluations show that the sessions have changed their thinking, and they have reflected on how they will take forward their learning into their clinical practice. 

‘In our opinion, the learning related to understanding the duties of a physiotherapy registrant in the UK will be crucial to their future careers as UK physiotherapists, particularly in relation to their clinical decision making and patient safety.’

Two of the international qualified students who attended the pilot programme shared their experiences with us:

Urvashi Soneji

I relocated to the UK to pursue my MSc in Physiotherapy at Cardiff University.  As an international student, I’ve always been interested in learning more about the working culture of physiotherapists in the UK. I was fortunate that my university opted to liaise with the HCPC and CSP to provide knowledge of the ethical requirements, the registration process, and job applications in the UK. 

I found this course to be a great resource for me. Kim and Hannah, the course moderators, made the sessions very engaging and informative. The lectures discussed the duties and ethical standards of a UK-registered physio. 

These sessions included interactive group activities.  Here, we got a chance to consider the settings and circumstances that a physiotherapist might encounter. We had the opportunity to reflect on these tasks and learn about our responsibilities. The case studies improved my understanding of how the code of conduct is applied in practice. As an active learner, these seminars were really beneficial to me. 

This course is only one of the many reasons why my journey was a piece of cake when I ultimately received my registration number and was also called for a job interview.

Ayesha Farheen 

When I joined the course I was working as a physiotherapist in a part time role. My aim was to understand and gain wider knowledge of HCPC and CSP; I was amazed to see the extent of the services and learning opportunities on the HCPC and CSP websites. 

The programme sessions gave us a comprehensive approach on the duty of care and the available resources to look out for, in terms of upgrading our continuous professional development and the case scenarios helped us get the gist about the challenges in decision-making in healthcare practice.

I was happy to learn that physiotherapists are well protected within their workplaces as CSP members and we gained a clear picture of how to proceed with applying and preparing for physiotherapy jobs in the UK. 

All these facilities are not available in India where I practiced in the past and I am happy to now be in the UK where physiotherapists are protected, guided and have resources to progress further in their career.