Nuffield Health Physiotherapy

You may be wondering what to expect from your physiotherapy triage assessment. It is beneficial that you read this before you start your triage as it will explain to you:

• In what format will my physiotherapy triage assessment be?
• What to expect from my triage assessment, either on the telephone or digitally?
• What do you need to consider before your triage?
• Informed consent for triage

In what format will my physiotherapy triage assessment be?

Nuffield Health uses a mixture of telephone and digital triage to provide flexibility and accessibility for the patient. If your insurance allows, you will have been given the option to choose which triage assessment you would like to use for access to our physiotherapy services. The aim of both forms of triage is the same in determining the optimum next steps for your assessment and treatment.

Telephone Triage

The Physiotherapist will ask you a number of questions and discuss your presenting problems. They will then go through potential options for treatment and jointly decide on a referral plan. If your Physiotherapist doesn’t feel physiotherapy is appropriate, they will explain why and make an appropriate referral to another healthcare professional or back to your GP.
  

What to expect from digital triage?

The digital triage is a web-based platform, so available on your desktop, mobile and tablet with no need for any downloads. You will complete a series of questions that intelligently adapt to your previous answers to gather the most important information needed to decide where you need to be seen next.

108 Body areas are covered by the assessment, ensuring it is comprehensive and the questions are developed by expert clinicians to provide identification of a wide range of conditions.

At the end of the assessment, you will get an instantly downloadable summary report of your condition including what to do next with self help and exercises to complete if appropriate. It may be that you need to see a physiotherapist, or it may suggest you see your GP, a dentist or in rare occasions, seek emergency care in A&E.

What do you need to consider before your triage?

• Details of the complaint, including how it started, what makes it better or worse and how it is progressing
• Details of your general health

Informed consent for treatment

Physiotherapists will not begin any form of assessment unless you have given your consent. For telephone triage, this will be given verbally by yourself and for digital triage, it will be given via the app. It is essential that before saying ‘yes’ to commence the assessment that you feel fully informed about what you are agreeing to. It is the Physiotherapists responsibility to make sure that you understand all the treatment options but it is also your responsibility to let the Physiotherapist know if you have any reservations or unanswered questions about the proposed treatment.


If you are under 16 or a vulnerable adult the Physiotherapist will seek to ensure that you have capacity to consent to treatment and if not will seek consent from your parent, guardian or carer.

How is information shared regarding your treatment and how do we protect your data?

Nuffield Health understands that your information is entrusted to us and we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. To this end Nuffield Health complies with data protection legislation and with clinical confidentiality guidelines. If you would like further detail regarding this then please refer to our privacy policy.

If clinically required, we may share information with your GP or another healthcare professional if onward referral is required. When your treatment is being paid for by another party (for example an insurer) we are asked to share information with them with regards to your care with Nuffield Health. This includes information which may relate to complaints or adverse events.

Other key information to be aware of

Am I entitled to see my physiotherapy records?

Please refer to our privacy policy

Should I wish to make a complaint, how do I do this?

If you have any concerns regarding your Physiotherapist or treatment then please initially speak to your Physiotherapist to see if this can be resolved directly. If you feel uncomfortable doing this or do not feel it is appropriate please refer to the following link for further information with regards to the complaint process.