PhysioUpdate 15th November 2022

Prominent physiotherapist Neil Langridge believes the Bournemouth-based AECC University College’s new Integrated Rehabilitation Centre (IRC) sets a ‘gold standard’ that other institutions in the UK might strive to follow.

Dr Langridge became director of clinical and rehabilitation services at AECC earlier this year, leaving his high-profile role as consultant physiotherapist and clinical lead of musculoskeletal (MSK) services at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

At a time when many NHS rehabilitation services are struggling to maintain their allocated spaces, the college’s multi-million-pound IRC manages to buck the depressing trend. As well as offering physiotherapy sessions to local people, AECC University College also delivers community chiropractic treatments, specialist MRIs, ultrasound, X-ray, a breastfeeding clinic and first contact practice in partnership with the Bournemouth Primary Care Network.

Services will now expand to include neurological rehabilitation, exercise classes, frailty and falls prevention, occupational health testing and sports rehabilitation.

Urgent action is needed to repair a growing rift separating upbeat government messages about a rosy digital future for healthcare – including artificial intelligence – and the experience of clinical staff who grapple with IT problems on a daily basis.

That is the message contained in an editorial published today (10 November) in The BMJ by Joe Zhang, who is based at the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, and two London-based colleagues.

Referring to a recent 10-day IT system outage at a large NHS trust, Dr Zhang and his co-authors warn that ‘such failures are no longer mere inconvenience but fundamentally affect our ability to deliver safe and effective care’.

Unlike the procurement of electronic health records, for example, investment in IT infrastructure – computers, servers and networks, for example – is rarely prioritised, when it should be seen as an something that increases productivity.