European region of the WCPT statement on physiotherapy in primary care.

Jill Long

doi:10.1017/s1463423619000811

Abstract

This statement has been produced by the European Region of the World Confederation for Physiotherapy (ER-WCPT) to promote the role of the physiotherapy profession within primary care, to describe the health and economic benefits to health systems and populations of having a skilled, appropriately resourced and utilised physiotherapy workforce in primary care services, and to illustrate how different models of physiotherapy service delivery are contributing to these health and cost benefits.

Highlights

Primary health care is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, patient-centred and community-oriented approach to health care
Physiotherapists’ qualifications and their ability to screen (Boissonnault and Ross, 2012), diagnose and provide appropriate treatment or referral (Ludvigsson and Enthoven, 2012) for musculoskeletal, neurological cardiorespiratory, paediatric and other conditions have positioned them as important providers of quality health care within the primary care team
Models of physiotherapy service delivery vary throughout European countries, ranging from prescribed treatments by a medical doctor to direct access or self-referral, where patients access physiotherapy services directly, without the need to see a doctor first

Summary

Physiotherapy in primary care

Primary health care is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, patient-centred and community-oriented approach to health care. Physiotherapists’ participation in primary care contributes to addressing the growing demand for health services and the increasing costs associated with delivering these services across Europe. Physiotherapy is an effective, comparatively low-cost high-value option to meet this rising demand (Mitchell and De Lissovoy, 1997; Ojha et al, 2014; Marks et al, 2016a). The safety and efficacy of physiotherapy in primary care is well established (Swinkels et al, 2014; Mintken et al, 2015) as is its effect on reducing high and over-utilisation of other medical services (Bornhöft et al, 2015)

Health and economic benefits on physiotherapy in primary care

Findings

What is physiotherapy?