CLCH launches digital Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy self-management resources for patients

Patients receiving Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (MSK) from CLCH can now benefit from a suite of digital resources to help them manage their care. The suite is available on the CLCH website and can be used with the accessibility tool ReciteMe. The webpages are user friendly and easy to access, with a focus on supporting patients with self-management of their musculoskeletal conditions via digital platforms and improving health literacy. The new resources are a great example of Central London Community Healthcare’s long term vision for inclusion and diversity. 

Take a look at the page and what it offers.

We caught up with Rupal Parikh, Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner and Spinal Pathway Lead in CLCH’s Musculoskeletal Service, to find out more about why the digital resources were developed and how they will benefit patients and staff.

What was the driver behind developing these resources digitally?

Our vision for the musculoskeletal service has always been to move towards digital platforms to support patients in engaging with their self-management. The Covid-19 pandemic saw a move to virtual consultations, so we needed more online resources to assist with patient care.  

In addition, there were periods during the pandemic when some of the musculoskeletal team were stepped down and redeployed, and we needed to signpost patients to resources that were available to them online, to support them to manage their long-term musculoskeletal condition. So, it became necessary to implement some digital transformation within our service and develop a dedicated musculoskeletal self-management webpage.

How is this going to benefit our patients? 

This will support and empower patients to independently self-manage their musculoskeletal condition (when appropriate), by allowing them early access​ to specialist-approved and reliable information.

It is an excellent suite of online resources that we have worked hard to develop and are very proud of. It is packed with information on how patients can take care of their health, numerous exercise videos to address different types of pain and musculoskeletal issues, as well as information about our service and what we provide.

Thanks to the ReciteMe tool, it can be accessed in any language and there is also the option to have the website pages read aloud for anyone with vision impairment.

How is this going to benefit our staff?

This will enable our service and staff to allocate time more effectively to patients with conditions that cannot be self-managed and will allow patients who need to access 1:1 assessments to do so in a more timely manner. It will also allow our staff to sign-post patients to digital resources on completion of their treatment.