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Roberts L1,2, Coleman E1, Vallet B1, Pointing T1
1University of Southampton, School of Health Sciences, Southampton, United Kingdom, 2University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Therapy Services, Southampton, United Kingdom
Background: In the United Kingdom the consultant title was initially developed for nurses, midwives and health visitors to provide better outcomes for patients and promote innovative ways of working. Since the first consultant physiotherapist was appointed in 2002, the role has developed slowly although the reasons for this are unclear.
Consultant roles were structured to combine responsibilities across four 'pillars': clinical practice; professional leadership; education; and research. The expectation was that 50% of consultants' time should be clinical and 17% each in the other pillars to enable consultants to lead improvements, evaluate practice and support others to develop. To date, little is reported about career pathways for consultants and the value they bring to healthcare.
Purpose: To identify consultant physiotherapists' contributions to healthcare, document their collective outputs and demonstrate the value of these roles.
Methods: All Chartered Physiotherapists who were members of the national consultants' network in the UK (n=92) were asked by email to complete a data sheet recording demographic details (job role, banding, qualifications), their achievements to date and an estimate of the time spent in each of the four pillars.
Consultants were then invited to take part in a semi-structured interview, conducted by telephone, skype or facetime (according to preference) to discuss their career pathway to becoming a consultant and explore their perceptions and experiences in more detail. To ensure face and content validity, 22 consultants reviewed the data sheet and topic guide in the development of this research and an internal pilot was undertaken with 3 consultants.
Data were audio-recorded, analysed thematically and managed using a Framework approach comprising transcription, coding, developing a framework matrix and interpretation of the data.
Results: Data were collected between July and December 2018. Whilst the majority of consultants had specialised and developed 'extended scope' skills, there was no set career pathway leading to a consultant position. A need for clarity around the capabilities expected of consultant level practice was identified and consultants were frequently challenged to justify their roles. No consultants reported combining the four pillars of the role in the specified proportions, with expert clinical practice usually predominating and compromising delivery of the other 3 pillars, in particular research. Despite the variation in job plans and expectations, there was a strong consensus that leadership skills were vital to the role.
Conclusion(s): This is the largest evaluation of the consultant physiotherapist role ever undertaken and identifies the contributions that UK consultant physiotherapists make to healthcare. It highlights the diversity in roles, lack of career pathway and the challenges of delivering expert practice across the 4 domains of clinical, professional leadership, education and research.
Implications: This novel study is important for future-proofing consultant roles. It is anticipated that this research will contribute to the development of a career pathway for experienced physiotherapists and will be key to clarifying what differentiates the consultant role from other advanced practice roles. This work is particularly timely given the need to promote innovative ways of working in the contemporary health and social care context.
Keywords: Consultant physiotherapist, value, advanced practice
Funding acknowledgements: This research was unfunded however LR is supported by a National Institute for Health Research senior clinical lectureship (round 3).
Consultant roles were structured to combine responsibilities across four 'pillars': clinical practice; professional leadership; education; and research. The expectation was that 50% of consultants' time should be clinical and 17% each in the other pillars to enable consultants to lead improvements, evaluate practice and support others to develop. To date, little is reported about career pathways for consultants and the value they bring to healthcare.
Purpose: To identify consultant physiotherapists' contributions to healthcare, document their collective outputs and demonstrate the value of these roles.
Methods: All Chartered Physiotherapists who were members of the national consultants' network in the UK (n=92) were asked by email to complete a data sheet recording demographic details (job role, banding, qualifications), their achievements to date and an estimate of the time spent in each of the four pillars.
Consultants were then invited to take part in a semi-structured interview, conducted by telephone, skype or facetime (according to preference) to discuss their career pathway to becoming a consultant and explore their perceptions and experiences in more detail. To ensure face and content validity, 22 consultants reviewed the data sheet and topic guide in the development of this research and an internal pilot was undertaken with 3 consultants.
Data were audio-recorded, analysed thematically and managed using a Framework approach comprising transcription, coding, developing a framework matrix and interpretation of the data.
Results: Data were collected between July and December 2018. Whilst the majority of consultants had specialised and developed 'extended scope' skills, there was no set career pathway leading to a consultant position. A need for clarity around the capabilities expected of consultant level practice was identified and consultants were frequently challenged to justify their roles. No consultants reported combining the four pillars of the role in the specified proportions, with expert clinical practice usually predominating and compromising delivery of the other 3 pillars, in particular research. Despite the variation in job plans and expectations, there was a strong consensus that leadership skills were vital to the role.
Conclusion(s): This is the largest evaluation of the consultant physiotherapist role ever undertaken and identifies the contributions that UK consultant physiotherapists make to healthcare. It highlights the diversity in roles, lack of career pathway and the challenges of delivering expert practice across the 4 domains of clinical, professional leadership, education and research.
Implications: This novel study is important for future-proofing consultant roles. It is anticipated that this research will contribute to the development of a career pathway for experienced physiotherapists and will be key to clarifying what differentiates the consultant role from other advanced practice roles. This work is particularly timely given the need to promote innovative ways of working in the contemporary health and social care context.
Keywords: Consultant physiotherapist, value, advanced practice
Funding acknowledgements: This research was unfunded however LR is supported by a National Institute for Health Research senior clinical lectureship (round 3).
Topic: Service delivery/emerging roles; Professional issues
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: University of Southampton
Ethics committee: Faculty of Health Sciences
Ethics number: 41633
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
