NHS physio services 'getting harder to access for patients leading to avoidable disability'

NHS physio services 'getting harder to access for patients leading to avoidable disability' Stroke patient Dave Duxbury, 63, said the lack of NHS hospital space meant he had to learn to walk again in a hospital corridor and now has to pay to go private Physiotherapists have warned cuts to NHS services are leaving people with unnecessary disability. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) said that NHS services were freezing recruitment and cutting back rehabilitation space, as one stroke survivor told how he had to re-learn to walk in a public corridor. The CSP said patients were waiting longer for care, getting less rehabilitation and "living with avoidable disability". Its poll of 550 physiotherapists in England from the society found 47% believed patients were experiencing increased disability because of the loss of rehab space. Rob Yeldham, director at the CSP, said: "More services are freezing recruitment, deleting physiotherapy posts and cutting rehabilitation space at a time when demand continues to grow. "The result is that patients are waiting longer for treatment, receiving less rehabilitation, recovering more slowly and some are living with avoidable disability as a result.” Former sports coach Dave Duxbury, 63, suffered a stroke last September and told how a lack of hospital space meant he had to learn to walk again in a hospital corridor. The dad-of-two from Oxenhope, West Yorkshire, was left with no movement in his right arm and leg and has had to pay privately for physio after his NHS treatment was discontinued. During his NHS physio sessions he described the embarrassment of struggling and crying on public hospital staircases while people passed by. Dave told the Mirror: “For me it was highly embarrassing because I had always been fit, as a former sports coach. The physios went above and beyond but the set up just wasn’t fit for purpose.” Dave told how initially three members of staff supported him as he learned to walk using a corridor handrail because the dedicated rehab room was too small. On one set of old stairs, Dave was so tall that when he stood upright as instructed, his head went through a suspended ceiling tile. The CSP poll found 79% of NHS physiotherapists are concerned staffing levels are insufficient to meet patient need. One in five reported that waiting times had increased. Some 72% reported recruitment freezes in their service, up from 63% in 2025. More than a third said that posts have been "deleted". As a result 32% said that there was reduced time with patients. Some 34% of NHS physiotherapists reported dedicated rehabilitation space had been lost. Dave Duxbury said: “I can’t speak highly enough of the physios - it’s just there’s not enough of them. I was lying in bed thinking ‘the end is nigh’ and very much thinking the glass was half full. They worked on the mental side with me. “I’m still struggling walking and have limited movement in my right arm, but I’m back driving and I’m very positive.” Dave Duxbury was discharged from Airedale Hospital after three months and then received physio sessions in the community for three months. He now pays privately for weekly physiotherapy and travels 45 minutes to receive it. Dave added: “After 12 weeks they’re kind of - ‘I’m really sorry but we have to move on to other patients.’ the NHS can’t do what they need to do. People shouldn’t have to pay to go private.” It comes after GP reforms to create larger super surgeries have placed physiotherapists and other practitioners at the forefront of efforts to take pressure off family doctors, which have seen numbers fall in the last decade due in part to workload pressures. Rob Yeldham said: "Every patient deserves the opportunity to make the best possible recovery but our members are telling us they are increasingly unable to provide the quality and intensity of rehabilitation people need because services simply don't have the staff, space or equipment.” The CSP said the poll comes as the NHS seeks to move more care away from hospital and into the community but it warned that the ambitions may not be achieved while physiotherapy posts and rehabilitation spaces are "eroded". A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Community health services, including rehabilitation services, play a vital role in helping people recover, regain independence and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions. "We recognise the importance of these services as a fundamental part of the health and care system and are taking action to strengthen community care, improve access and support our ambition to deliver more care closer to people's homes. "Through our plans for the NHS, backed by record investment, we are building a health service that is fit for the future and ensuring patients can access the care and support they need, when they need it."