HMR Paediatric Physiotherapy Service wins Principles of Care award

Garry Hodgkinson, Linsie Delaney, Diane Ciapa, Lisa Haywood and Janice Fidler

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A health service based in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale (HMR) has picked up an award which recognises those who have gone the extra mile to provide excellent care.

The HMR Paediatric Physiotherapy Service, part of Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, won one of the Trust’s Principles of Care Awards in recognition of their support for children with complex conditions.

These include children and young people, from birth to 19 years, with conditions such as muscle and joint problems, broken bones, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy.

The service topped the whole HMR Community Services division, by demonstrating how effective their treatments have been for children and young people.

Out of 437 service users reaching the end of their care, 91% showed an improvement and eight per cent stabilised their condition or symptoms.

To determine this, the team implemented a Therapy Outcome Measure (TOM). This assesses the child’s relative abilities and difficulties in terms of impairment, activity, participation and well-being, and any changes to each throughout their care.

Diane Ciapa, HMR Paediatric Physiotherapy Lead, said: “To enable us to effectively monitor how effective we are as a service we starting using Therapy Outcome Measures.

“Using the TOMs we can give a numerical score, from one to five, to assess the progress of our service users over time and change care plans accordingly.

“This helps us to provide meaningful, individualised and effective treatment, and means we are able to demonstrate just how much of a difference it makes to the children and young people we see.

“It has been great to see that so many patients have shown an improved condition using the TOMs, and I think it’s a credit to the hard work of the team.”

The team received their award at Pennine Care’s Annual General Meeting on September 28 at Lancashire Cricket Club.

HMR Paediatric Physiotherapy is now part of the Acute and Ongoing Needs Service, which has brought together a number of community services for children, young people and their families in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale.