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4 hours ago
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Children in the UK are suffering “irreversible harm” and lifelong consequences as a result of “unacceptable” delays in accessing physiotherapy, experts have warned.
Teenagers face lifelong trauma from untreated chronic pain while children as young as four are waiting 18 months for critical treatment, according to a survey of paediatric physiotherapists.
Lengthy delays to treatment while children’s bodies are still growing can have seriously harmful repercussions for their health that can last decades.
Some families are being forced to travel more than 200 miles for NHS physiotherapy services because of delays or a lack of access where they live. Others are having to go private to ensure their children get the urgent care that they need.
The Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists (APCP), a professional network of members of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, surveyed 155 staff across the UK who specialise in treating babies, children and teenagers.
Responses to the survey were anonymised, but one physiotherapist cited a four-year-old patient who was forced to wait 18 months for treatment.
Another, who has worked in physiotherapy for two decades, warned that there would be “a whole generation of adults with poor physical health and dire mental health” due to delays getting care.
Nine in 10 (94%) expressed concerns about the inability of youngsters to access prompt treatment.
Sara Hazzard, assistant director at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said children waiting for rehabilitation for illnesses and injury were experiencing harm and distress that could last a lifetime.
“The fact that this is happening up and down the UK is not just unacceptable, it is failing a generation.”
Staff shortages and cuts to services were causing the delays, while at the same time the NHS was failing to create enough new posts to meet the “overwhelming” demand for care, Hazzard said.
“Families should not fear for their child’s health and future because they can only get help and rehabilitation if they can afford to pay. Urgent action is needed.”
One physiotherapist who works with children under the age of six at a neurodisability service, told the survey that “severe understaffing” was the “foremost” reason for the crisis.
“Our team is overwhelmed, and the workload has become unsustainable. With no end in sight, it’s increasingly difficult to provide the level of care these children deserve.”
Georgina Ashdown, vice-chair of the APCP, said there was a “devastating gap” in help available for children, citing musculoskeletal therapy for long-term conditions, rehabilitation after a stroke, and support for lifelong conditions such as cerebral palsy.
“Sadly, long wait lists, limited access to physiotherapy due to staffing shortages and shortages of suitable rehab spaces are causing irreversible harm,” she said.
“For us as paediatric physiotherapists, it’s an agonising reality. We are acutely aware that by failing to provide timely treatment there is a risk to children’s health today but also laying the foundation for far-reaching health, social and economic problems tomorrow.”
Ashdown added: “The heartbreaking truth is that while quality rehabilitation can transform young lives when delivered swiftly, what is currently available across acute and community settings simply isn’t enough.”
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “In Wales, unlike other parts of the UK, we have a waiting time target for accessing children’s physiotherapy of 14 weeks from referral to start of treatment. 98% of children are seen within the target wait time.”
The Scottish health secretary, Neil Gray, said he greatly valued the role physiotherapists play in children’s rehabilitation, adding that the number working in Scotland had risen by 27.5% in the last 10 years.
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland said it acknowledged the concerns raised by physiotherapists and insisted it was “committed to improving timely access to these essential services”.
The Department of Health and Social Care, responsible for the NHS in England, said it had inherited a broken NHS but promised to ensure it would “be there for all children when they need it”.
