Following the Sussex MSK Partnership’s successful roll-out of Physiotherapy self-referral for Horsham and Crawley residents last year, the service are pleased to be introducing self-referral for Hand and Wrist conditions in Horsham, Crawley and some Brighton practices. People will now be able to self-refer at any time of day, allowing them to access the service around their busy lives.

What does this mean for person-centred care?

People can access self-referral at any time of day.  Anyone who is 17 or older and are registered at a practice in Horsham and Crawley or certain practices in Brighton, will be able to self-refer into our hand and wrist physiotherapy service.

This is a key step in placing patients at the heart of their care.  By opening up the entry point for referral we aim to not only ease access for people but also save GP time and enable people to see a clinician much sooner if need be.

We believe that people are the experts in their own body and how they feel. We have found that when people self-refer to physiotherapy, we are able to understand their needs much more fully and are able to get them to the right service first time. If someone is not suitable for our community service we will also be able to redirect them to the right service for them, usually without the need for them to go back to their GP.

What people say about self-referral

“I was pleasantly surprised by the ease with which I made my self-referral and the speed with which I received my consultation.”

 

“I have found this new self-referral system excellent and cannot offer any suggestions for improvement.”

Award-winning partnership working

Introducing self-referral to our community services would not have been possible without the support of our colleagues in the physiotherapy teams.  The Physiotherapy team in Horsham and Crawley have won the SCFT Quality Improvement Award (2017) for their work on self-referral.

One of the benefits to the Sussex MSK Partnerships model of partnership working is that we are able to easily transfer learning from one part of the healthcare system and introduce it to another.  This means more patients benefit from each innovation we introduce.

Visit the Sussex MSK Partnership website for information on how to self-refer to the Physiotherapy or Hand and Wrist service, as well as updated information about self-managing MSK conditions.

If you would like to hear more about what self-referral means for innovation in MSK services, you can listen to Sally York (Physiotherapy Lead for SMSKP) speak about it in our podcast: “Self-referral to Physiotherapy Services in Sussex” on Latest.