Government announce 'boost' for community healthcare services

The spending, part of the NHS long term plan backed by £20.5bn over the next five years, is intended to improve care in the home, and thereby avoid patients unnecessarily going to – or staying in – hospital.

Rob Yeldham, policy director at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said:

‘We welcome the emphasis on community-based care in keeping people healthy and out of hospital and we know that physiotherapists play a vital role in helping to achieve this.

‘Multi-disciplinary care teams are vital in supporting older people living in care homes and physiotherapy has to be part of this support to help them stay active and avoid the need for hospital care. Our members tell us that sometimes they aren’t able to offer this support to residents and this has to change. Our ageing population means more people than ever are living with at least one long-term health condition so demand for physiotherapy is only set to grow.

‘We look forward to seeing the finer details of the NHS long-term plan when it is published. Whilst in the medium term the shift to community based prevention should save money, setting up new services will need some up front additional money and we will need to see how new services are to be funded. The success of this plan however will ultimately rely on joint work across health and social care accompanied by the investment in staff and services necessary to deliver it on the frontline.’

Read the funding announcement here.