About Claire
Claire has worked at the CSP for 15 years, prior to which she worked as an NHS physiotherapist for ten years. As assistant director, Claire is involved in policy work at a national level. However, at the time of the east of England project aimed at maximising employment opportunities for newly-qualified health professionals.
Claire was also the CSP's lead officer in the region, hence her close involvement with the project.
Claire's views and comments on the project
“Since 2000, the CSP had been campaigning for the need for an increased number of graduate training places over the next eight years and for a more co-ordinated approach towards workforce planning.
We got to a point in 2005/6, when we were facing a situation where there was a lack of graduate positions, rising unemployment for this profession and the crisis worsening. A number of posts within the NHS had been frozen due to financial pressures. Unfortunately, this exacerbated the situation. This national issue became a major concern to the CSP when the supply of graduate physiotherapists was much greater than the number of vacancies available to them.
Although other professions were affected including nurses and allied health professionals like radiographers and choreographers, this issue was more prevalent in the physiotherapy profession.
Nationally, strategic health authorities were asked to set up working groups to tackle the issue and to work on local, workable solutions. I was pleased to be involved in the new Employment Stakeholder Group in the east of England. The Strategic Health Authority in this area was particularly proactive and took the issue seriously enough to take swift action. It put substantial funding behind 50 new 12-month positions to encourage employers to take on new physiotherapists and to help our members to kick-start their careers. The working group was also keen to promote a commitment from employers beyond this initial 12-month period.
One of our main concerns was for physiotherapists not being unable to find positions within the first twelve to eighteen months of graduating. Their skills can easily be lost if they are not put into practice soon after graduating. They need to develop and nurture new skills in the workplace quickly to fully benefit from their education and practical work placements.
“Physiotherapists work in various healthcare settings and treat a wide range of conditions. The employment incentive scheme that was set up by the Group allowed newly-qualified physiotherapists to test their skills, not only in traditional roles but in more innovative roles within hospitals and the community. This initiative also helped to target resources in line with the new NHS reforms.
A number of employers put forward business cases for the funding of physiotherapy positions. They needed to demonstrate how a physiotherapist’s role would help their organisation, their patients and the long-term employment situation of physiotherapists. For example, getting people home quicker from hospitals contributed towards better patient care and cost-efficiencies.
“I believe that this particular project was hugely successful due to the joined-up working approach taken by the Employment Stakeholder Group. We listened to the graduates, the employers, the universities and to each other. We discussed priorities, key challenges and put the best solution into action quickly.
The graduates on the talent pool have received a huge amount of support and this was achieved by the Group’s and local managers’ sheer hard work and focus on resolving the unemployment problem.
This project has also highlighted the need for all parties impacted to conduct more workforce planning in the future. This is particularly important to the CSP. Some of the Trusts have already starting to look at future requirements over the next three to four years which is fantastic.
Ultimately, this issue was resolved through strong partnership-working and focusing on shared objectives. In 2006, around 80% of newly-qualified physiotherapists didn’t have jobs. In 2008, 80% do have jobs; evidence itself of the project’s huge success.”