UHP and Plymouth Active Leisure team up to support people with hip and knee osteoarthritis
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (UHP) and Plymouth Active Leisure (PAL) have joined forces to bring care closer to the community with a five-week prehabilitation hip and knee physiotherapy programme at Plymouth Life Centre.
Ran at Plymouth Life Centre by UHP physiotherapists Olivia Roberts and Helen White, the programme focuses on helping patients gain knowledge and strength ahead of surgeries, or to help them become strong enough to prevent the need for surgical intervention.
This has leant itself to the NHS 10-year plan, by bringing care out of the hospital and into the community. Speaking about the success of the programme so far, Olivia, Musculoskeletal team lead physiotherapist, said: “It’s been heartwarming to see how far everyone has come in five short weeks. We have a patient who suffers from multiple sclerosis and when she started the course, she couldn’t walk up the stairs, now she walks up several sets of stairs here two days a week, which is incredible.”
This pilot phase of the programme has seen three cohorts of patients, all of whom have praised several elements of the course. One patient said: “It’s been amazing, we’ve learned so much not only about how to correctly do exercises, but also more information about osteoarthritis.
“Olivia and Helen have been amazing and made the course so enjoyable, we’ve built a little community here and I’ve been excited to come in each week. It’s also been invaluable to be able to come to the life centre, as it makes it so much more accessible with the parking. I would do the whole course again in a heartbeat”.
Reflecting on why it is vital for the life centre to be involved in this programme, Will Hickey, Active Health manager for PAL said: “It’s important for us to offer these facilities to the community. It provides an environment that is easily accessible for everyone, and we hope that it encourages the patients involved to continue with their fitness journeys here with us after the programme is finished”.
Speaking about the future of the programme, Helen, physiotherapy technician said: “We would love for this programme, and the collaboration with Plymouth Life Centre to continue and to grow, so we can help more patients.
“We are also aiming to bring our current cohorts back together in three months’ time, so we can see how they are making progress now that the course has finished. Our hope is that they will continue with their fitness journeys and make good use of the knowledge that they have learned over the last five weeks.
“We have been extremely lucky for this opportunity to work not only with Plymouth Life Centre, but also with an excellent first cohort of patients, and we look forward to hopefully continuing with this important programme”
