Sophie Paish shines a light on the work of physiotherapists in a private acute hospital setting
![Sophie Paish physiotherapist private Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle, Manchester](/sites/default/files/styles/unstyled_max_width_1200px/public/media-image/2024-01/image022.jpg?itok=B7XTTnGb)
Paediatric and adult intensive care, oncology, cardiothoracic, gynaecology, paediatric neurorehabilitation, selective dorsal rhizotomy, neurology, spinal, head and neck surgery, orthopaedics and general surgery are just some of the areas I would not have associated with the private sector.
If you’d have asked me 12 years ago what being a physiotherapist working in the private sector was, I would have said it was a heavily MSK clinic or sport-based role.
But I was very naive and somewhat ignorant to what the private sector was, and it wasn’t something I was exposed to when completing my studies which were more NHS-biased.
When I qualified, working in the private sector as an acute physiotherapist never even crossed my mind.
It was never considered. It was a whole other world.
If you ask me now what being a physiotherapist working in the private sector is, I can describe a multitude of specialities and services that I was completely unaware of until I made the decision a few years into my career to leave the NHS for a private role.
It was only by chance that when relocating, I found a private hospital within my job search.
Prior to this, I hadn’t come across a private hospital or thought to ever explore it as an employment opportunity.
This was possibly down to my presumption that I would de-skill out of an NHS acute environment and, having only been qualified a handful of years, this wasn’t something I thought to entertain.
When undertaking my degree, I had never originally envisioned that I would be able to increase my skillset beyond a level I thought was only achievable in an NHS setting.
The private sector has enabled me to experience a huge array of specialities and opportunities within my clinical career to date.
I have worked with patients from a variety of settings and backgrounds, including charities, research trials and overseas residents, to identify a few.
The private sector is most definitely more than the cliché of MSK clinics I once thought it may have been.
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