PHIS: national survey report

The survey was developed by Chris Tack, author of the HEE paper and CSP member, representatives from the 4 home nations and with input from subject matter experts. The survey was open for a three-week period during which it received 851 responses, 300 of those from the physiotherapy profession (35.3%).

It was published in July 2022 in the British Journal of Healthcare Management. The figures in the report are based on the data from those 300 physiotherapy responses.

• There was good coverage from across the UK with 54.7% from England, 22.7% from Scotland, 13% from Wales and 9.7% from Northern Ireland
• Of the 287 physiotherapy responses in banded positions, 40.8% were band 7, 23.3% were band 8a, 20.9% were band 6, 5.6% were 8b, 3.8% were 8c, 2.4% were band 5, 1.7% were 8d and 0.7% each for bands 4 and 9
• 15.7% were in a designated digital role. Of those, 57.4% had paid time in their job plan to deliver this role
• With these biases towards more senior roles, the data cannot claim to be fully representative of the workforce however it can provide some interesting insights
• 67% felt their use of digital technology at work has increased greatly during COVID but only 36.7% felt their confidence in using digital technology at work has increased greatly during COVID
• Self-assessed confidence in using digital devices or software at work scored an average of 7.3 out of 10 and self-assessed motivation to use digital devices and software at work scored an average of 8.4 out of 10 suggesting a desire to improve use of informatics
• 81.3% reported using a digital or technical system daily with 41.7% reported being early adopters of technology once they see clear benefits
• Organisation support for the development of digital skills in the workforce was rated on average of 6.5 out of 10 with only 24.3% feeling that the systems in their organisation did all that they wanted them to do and 60.3% feeling that their processes/procedures were limited by the capability of their organisation’s systems. Only 40.7% knew the process to develop or request changes to digital systems in use in their organisation
• Over 98% are using a PC or laptop daily, 97% use NHSmail or other work email daily and 81.3% access specialist digital or technical systems (e.g. EHR, PACS etc.) daily so usage of simple technology is widespread in the physiotherapy profession. Other more specialist technologies are used but in smaller numbers
• 50.7% wrote in electronic patient records (EPR) daily with over 350 different responses given for record keeping systems in use. Of those responses, 19% reported using paper while the others using a variety of EPR systems (e.g. EMIS, Cerner, SystmOne etc.). However, 33.3% reported that they never wrote electronic notes suggesting disparity in system provision and access
• Across all ten competency domains, members of the physiotherapy profession were comparable with members of other AHP professions using a five-point Likert scale. In almost all domains we reported higher percentage of good or very good competence and lower poor or very poor competence compared with other AHPs
• Curiously, under the decision support domain, 60.7% of physiotherapists rate their competence as poor to very poor and only 17% rate as good to very good
• 52.5% of physiotherapists rate their competence as poor to very poor for medicines management and optimisation. However, this domain is not applicable to all members of the physiotherapy profession
• Under the meta-competencies domain (including the leadership sub-domain) 46.2% of physiotherapists rate their competence as poor to very poor (17% higher than other AHPs). Interestingly, the rating of positive performance (good or very good) is also 12% higher than other AHPs. The number of respondents in the physiotherapy group who rated this domain as not applicable is 41% lower than other AHPs, indicating this domain is considered more applicable to physiotherapy
• Under records, assessments and plans 41.8% of physiotherapy responses rated their competence as poor to very poor. This raises concerns as it is domain which is high applicability to physiotherapy (only 7.9% of physiotherapists rated this as not applicable)

In summary, despite the bias towards those in senior positions, the survey demonstrates a disparity in the current digital competence in the physiotherapy profession. It highlights a number of areas for clear focus by the CSP, particularly under the meta-competency and records domains, which we will address partially through the PHIS education modules. It also demonstrates some trends to monitor longitudinally.

We will continue to liaise with the authors of the survey and HEE around the possible use of the UK AHP Digital Competence Framework as part of our own strategy.