The musculoskeletal outpatient physiotherapy service is based at Darent Valley Hospital. Referrals are received from Consultants, GPs and Self-Referrals.
We receive a wide variety of referrals which can include trauma and orthopaedics, rheumatology, soft tissue injuries, neck and back pain, with a smaller percentage of patients being referred from medicine, ENT and plastic surgery.
The service operates a triaged waiting list system to ensure that referrals are assessed, prioritised and managed as quickly and as efficiently as possible. The waiting time for patients depends on how the referral has been triaged. All acute referrals are booked in at the next available appointment, within 10 working days and routine referrals receive a letter soon after receipt openly communicating the waiting time and asking patients to ring in and book their appointment.
Within the department we have a fully equipped gymnasium that is available for patients to use with their therapist and for staff to use out of hours. We run a number of group classes in the gym which are led by the Physiotherapy Department in house Sports Therapist.