No knee jerk reaction to going for surgery in Morecambe Bay
More than 100 patients so far, who have attended the Integrated Musculoskeletal Service (iMSK), have been given the opportunity to have a conversation with their physiotherapist and go through 12 questions together based on the Oxford Hip and Knee Score which indicates whether they may be a candidate for surgery.
Alison Parish, iMSK practitioner physiotherapy, based at Heysham Health Centre, said: “This type of approach, to give people options and go through the pros and cons of different interventions, is something we’ve been doing as physios for a long time but what we have done is develop a framework based on the national Shared Decision Making programme and have rolled this out to the iMSK service across the bay.
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Hide Ad“Shared Decision Making is about having a grown-up discussion with the patient, not telling them what to do. It’s a collaborative process through which the physiotherapist supports a patient to reach a decision about their treatment.”
If a patient attending the service decided that they did not want to go down the surgery route they would be offered alternative treatments including:
*An Escape-pain programme which consists of 12 one-hour sessions, twice a week, over a six week period.
*The course is aimed at people over 45 years-old with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis (chronic joint pain) of the hip and/or knee
*Physiotherapy/hydrotherapy
*Corticosteroid and local anaesthetic injections
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Hide Ad*Referral to the orthopaedic service for consideration of a guided injection into the hip.
Patient feedback on the Shared Decision Making approach has included:
*“The outcome measure helps me to be honest about how it is affecting my life.”
*“Very good. I don’t want surgery.”
*“Good to know what the alternatives are up-front.”
The team’s vision for the future is that the Shared Decision Making approach will be adopted by everyone across the multi-disciplinary spectrum including GPs, nurse practitioners, First Contact Physiotherapists and orthopaedic surgeons.