Physiotherapy in a Care Home

As our population continues to age, more and more people are residing in care homes or living in nursing homes, these patients often have a variety of conditions including mobility problems that can benefit greatly from physiotherapy. Our home visit physiotherapy service based in Lichfield and serving areas such as Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Walsall, Rugeley and Cannock  provides the ideal solution for patients who are currently living in a nursing home. Our physiotherapists are mobile and can visit them in the care home at a convenient time and reduce the difficulty of attempting to get to a clinic which is often impossible.  

Our physios have a large amount of experience in treating patients in residential care or nursing homes and can liaise with any staff or carers including nurses and social workers. If needed our physiotherapists are able to instruct staff and carers in how to supervise and perform any exercises or mobility work. Often relatives or patients themselves are anxious about whether or not it is possible to receive physiotherapy in a care or nursing home but with our service this is not a problem and our experienced physiotherapists will be able to allay any worries.

How can ThreeSpires Physiotherapy help?

One of our physiotherapists will visit the care or nursing home at a convenient time and day. If needed we can contact the care provider in advance to discuss any requirements but usually this is not necessary and most care homes are happy to have a physiotherapist visit the patient at any reasonable time. Our physiotherapist will then conduct an initial assessment and treatment session with the patient - sometimes a relative will prefer to be there in order to facilitate communication and offer reassurance.

Due to the complexity of the problems that elderly patients face, difficulties with communication, the lengthy assessment process and the need for ongoing re-assessment as patients improve; all physiotherapy sessions are 1 hour in length. It is our experience that this extended period of time allows for a much greater benefit and response to therapy and is especially beneficial for older patients who may fatigue quickly and may need longer rest periods in sessions.

The session will generally proceed as follows:

A full subjective assessment (discussion) will take place between the physiotherapist and the patient - sometimes due to communication difficulties this may take place earlier with a relative or carer and the session will instead focus on assessing function and physical abilities. This subjective history will generally cover their condition, current mobility, any goals for the future, past medical history and medication. 

Physical Examination: of the patient is then completed. This will be wide ranging and include factors such as mobility, strength, balance and posture and is conducted in a way that makes it easy to follow for any patients who may be confused or possibly anxious.

Treatment options during the session may include, balance work, strengthening exercises, falls prevention, mobilising practice and gait re-education. All exercises that are likely to be prescribed will be practised so that the patient feels comfortable and understands what is required and why. At this point, if needed our physiotherapists will instruct staff or carers as to how best to supervise and ensure exercises are conducted correctly and safely.

Self management is a key part of physiotherapy and the physiotherapist will design an exercise program that will be both safe and easy to complete independently in the nursing home. This can be written or typed up and left in a safe place at the home in order to facilitate recovery.

Some Common Questions Regarding Physiotherapy In A Care Home

1. Can you see someone with dementia? The short answer to this is: yes, absolutely, our physios are highly experienced at working with patients with dementia. For more information check out our article on this subject here

2. Will the care home allow a private physiotherapist in? Yes, without a doubt all care and nursing homes welcome private physiotherapists as it benefits their residents and helps improve mobility.

3. Can I be there during the sessions? Of course, if you wish to be there during any physio sessions with your relative that is absolutely fine and in fact our physiotherapists welcome family involvement. 

4. Do I need to be there during sessions? No, if you are unable to attend any sessions that is completely fine and in fact for the majority of physiotherapy sessions in care homes our physios do not have relatives there. 

5. I can't be there for the assessment. Can you let me know how it went? Yes, of course, our physio will be more than happy to give you a call or send an email and let you know what they think.

6. I don't think my relative can last an hour session, do you have any shorter sessions? Our physiotherapy sessions are always 1 hour, this is because we have found this to be the best way to have physiotherapy with elderly patients in care homes. It allows the physiotherapist time to speak to staff, find the resident, move them to their room if needed and also give them time between exercises to rest. 

7. NHS physiotherapists are also visiting. Can your physios visit as well? The short answer is yes, there is usually not a problem with this. The longer answer is that we would need to not be in on the same day as the NHS physiotherapists so that we avoid over working the patient. Our physios are more than happy to come up with a joint therapy plan and set of goals with the NHS physiotherapists.

8. Do you have a list of care homes that you visit? We don't have a definitive list of all the care homes that our physios visit because we offer physiotherapy in care homes over a very wide area and as such there are simply too many care homes to list. Simply we offer physiotherapy in care homes in Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, Lichfield, Tamworth, Burton, Cannock, Rugeley and Aldridge. 

9. Do you have any evidence of your success with physiotherapy in care homes? Yes, we have a large number of testimonials for the relatives of patients. These can be found on our testimonials page here or on our Google or Facebook pages.

So if you would like further information about our physiotherapy service in care and nursing homes or would like to book an appointment then please get in touch. We are a home visit physiotherapy service based in Lichfield and serving anywhere within a 20 minute drive including areas such as Burntwood, Cannock, Tamworth, Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, Rugeley and Burton. You can call us on 0788 428 1623 email us at  enquiries@threespiresphysiotherapy.co.uk or alternatively use the contact form