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What’s happening? Following their commitment to deliver new rights at work within their first 100 days, Labour’s new government have introduced the Employment Rights Bill, which will cover England, Scotland and Wales. Taken together, the Bill represents a clear break from recent governments’ stripping of employment protections, and has been broadly welcomed by the trade union movement. Among the Bill’s provisions are: The revocation of the previous government’s minimum services legislation, which would have seriously impinged healthcare workers’ right to strike. The verdict: The repeal of this

I am just back from the UK Labour conference in Liverpool. With Labour newly elected to government the CSP successfully expanded the physio presence there this year. We met with the new health secretary Wes Streeting and health ministers Stephen Kinnock, Andrew Gwynn and Karin Smyth. Liz Kendall the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones also met with us to hear about how rehab can support people back to work and save the taxpayer money. We also shared the importance of rehab for patients, and actor David Harewood tried out our new augmented

I started my physiotherapy training 40 years ago. Since then, I’ve been proud to call myself a chartered physiotherapist: I remember when physiotherapy was not a protected title, and being chartered was the way to distinguish ourselves as having had appropriate training to be working in the NHS and be registered with the predecessor of the HCPC. I have used the CSP for advice and guidance in the past, most notably when threatened with litigation, and witnessed the work it has done to progress our profession and enable it to evolve. Prior to moving to the far north of Scotland in 2020, I was a

At the heart of today’s call for proportionate investment between community and acute services was a plea for fairness. As it’s only fair that people are supported to make full recoveries, and are able to access that support whoever and wherever they are in the country. The alternative is that the millions of people without access to NHS rehab services in their area, and who can’t afford to go private, fall victim to economic inequality when it comes to recovery. Unfairly, those millions must then put their lives on hold, as their conditions deteriorate, missing out on family times, or the

I addressed some of the concerns that have been made recently around the role of FCP in primary care, this week in Health Service Journal. It’s very important that we don’t let FCP become collateral damage in ongoing concerns about the regulation of physician associates or the funding of GPs. The role is worth its weight in gold in terms of the benefits it brings to primary care – both to the wider team and to patients I made the point that FCPs have an entirely different role to physician associates and shouldn’t be bound in with the highly charged discussions over regulation

For many years the CSP has spoken about how best to support the physiotherapy profession to showcase what we do, our impact, how we support and improve the lives of our patients, and how we influence those around us to continue to invest in our services. The CSP hears the problems that you, our members, are facing every day; including reductions in funding and continued loss of space. We have also heard via the Digital and Informatics Physiotherapy Group (DIPG), our community rehab survey and the insight work for our Physiotherapy Health Informatics Strategy, the challenges and realities our

Labour are in the same position as someone who has acquired a potentially wonderful but very run-down house. Like many people who buy a dream home doer upper, they didn’t have the option of renovating it before they moved in. They will have to project manage change whilst putting up with the state the home is in now. They fear that they only have the money to do some improvements at a time, unless their plan to bring in more income through a better job works out. They are excited but also anxious because of the scale of the project and how long it might take to create their dream home. It may

The CSP call for fair pay will need to continue whatever the result on 4 July – as pay will not be resolved in a single year. However, while we recognise it has to be part of a longer-term plan, the next government must begin to address the workforce crisis in the NHS, and fair pay has to be part of the solution. After many years, which have frequently seen below inflation rises, the link between pay and recruitment and retention is all too clear. Without the staff, the services that are so badly needed across the country cannot be delivered. And it is not just about pay in the NHS. Whatever

At the CSP it’s not our job to tell you who to vote for but we do urge members to look at what the parties are offering and to use your vote. Manifestos are never comprehensive, so it is not simple to judge what a party will do beyond their headline manifesto commitments. CSP policy asks of all politicians for the general election have been clear: Transform rehabilitation Expand and develop the workforce needed to deliver better care Deliver fair pay and conditions to retain staff. A range of other issues will be important to members in deciding how to vote in the election including the

All physiotherapists will be able to recall that one moment with a patient that unlocked a mystery. A look, a throwaway remark, the actions of an accompanying relative. Those previously hidden parts of the puzzle that when combined with clinical reasoning skills and a deep understanding of the evidence base, enabled the clinician to put the person in front of them on the right path. That, for me, is why AI cannot ever entirely replace a real physiotherapist. Our interactions are with humans, and it’s this human contact that means we can meet their needs in a way that AI cannot. This is