‘Hospitals hit by lack of physios’

Patients are staying in hospital longer because physiotherapy facilities that were repurposed during the pandemic are not being returned to use, an inquiry has heard.

Claire Ronald, a senior negotiating officer with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said gyms and other rehabilitation spaces in some hospitals are now being used for extra beds or storage, and some hydrotherapy pools closed during the pandemic have not reopened due to cost pressures.

Giving evidence to the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry yesterday, the former physiotherapist said this risks costing more in the long run, as patients spend longer in hospital.

She said: “You’re not going to get patients out of hospital unless you improve their mobility, improve their function, and return as much of that mobility and function as possible, and that’s where physiotherapy is key and it’s where our rehabilitation spaces are also key.

“There’s no point having amazingly skilled physiotherapists trying to do a job at a bedside or trying to rehabilitate someone’s balance on an airflow mattress.”

Ms Ronald also said poor workforce planning means there are too few graduates coming through to fill vacancies caused by increasing numbers of staff retiring early since the pandemic.

She said the stress of many physiotherapists being deployed to Covid-19 wards during the pandemic – with many struggling to obtain appropriate PPE – may have contributed to more staff opting to take early retirement.

This was echoed by Annette Holliday, of the Unite union, who also said that since 2021, staffing pressures on health visitors, who support families with young children in their homes, has significantly increased.

The registered nurse and health visitor told the inquiry: “It feels like the pace of the work has really escalated, and the complexity of families has escalated since the pandemic.

“There’s not really been the reinvestment back into health visiting that allows you to support the work that you’d want to do.”

Both witnesses also described a lack of effective guidance, particularly early in the pandemic, as a source of anxiety for staff, with Ms Holliday saying her team had been expected to carry on “business as usual” in the first few weeks of the pandemic as the country locked down.

The inquiry continues.