First Contact PhysiotherapistNHS

Job summary

Are you ready to be the first point of contact for musculoskeletal care and making a real difference from the very first conversation?

As our First Contact Practitioner Physiotherapist, youll work alongside GPs and practice teams in our forward-thinking practices, assessing, diagnosing, and managing patients directly.

Main duties of the job

As our FCP Physio, you will act as the first point of contact for patients presenting with undifferentiated MSK conditions, working autonomously alongside GP colleagues. Your core duties include:

• Autonomous Assessment & Diagnosis: Take sole responsibility for face-to-face and remote consultations, taking a comprehensive history and conducting physical examinations to form a working diagnosis.
• Clinical Decision-Making: Independently agree and initiate management plans, including prescribing analgesia, referring for imaging (X-ray, MRI, ultrasound), ordering blood tests, and making onward referrals to secondary care (e.g., orthopaedics, rheumatology) or community services like physiotherapy and podiatry.
• Risk Stratification & Safety Netting: Identify red flags, serious pathology (e.g., cauda equina, malignancy, fracture), and psychosocial barriers to recovery. Provide clear safety-netting advice and arrange appropriate urgent follow-up or escalation.
• Patient Self-Management: Deliver evidence-based advice, exercise prescription, and health promotion to empower patients to manage their condition and reduce unnecessary GP or A&E attendances.
• Liaison & MDT Working: Work closely with GPs, practice nurses, pharmacists, and social prescribers. Monthly FCP IST training.
• Record Keeping: Maintain accurate, contemporaneous records in the practice clinical system (e.g., EMIS, SystmOne) using agreed templates and coding.

Job description

Scope of the Clinical Role

1. First point of contact for expert clinical assessment and diagnosis of patients presenting with MSK conditions in primary care. This will include patients who present with a range of complex musculoskeletal conditions and/or multiple pathologies and/or mental health and/or pain management needs and underlying pathologies/other primary conditions.

2. Use advanced clinical practice skills and clinical reasoning to provide comprehensive treatment and management support to patients who present with complex musculoskeletal conditions.

3. Work independently, without in-person day to day supervision, to assess, diagnose, triage, and manage patients, taking responsibility for prioritising and managing a caseload of the PCNs Registered Patients whilst liaising with the Professional Lead where appropriate.

4. Develop integrated and tailored care programmes in partnership with patients through:

a. effective shared decision-making with a range of first line management options (appropriate for a patients level of activation).

b. assessing levels of Patient Activation to support a patients own level of knowledge, skills and confidence to self-manage their conditions, ensuring they are able to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of self-management interventions, particularly for those at low levels of activation.

c. agreeing with patients appropriate support for self-management through referral to rehabilitation focussed services and wider social prescribing as appropriate.

d. designing and implementing plans that facilitate behavioural change, optimise patients physical activity and mobility, support fulfilment of personal goals and independence, and reduce the need for pharmacological interventions.

e. utilisation of an exercise program platform for patients treatment programs with supportive SMS/emails.

5. Independently recognise where diagnostic tests including routine and specialist x-rays, MRI imaging, ultrasound scans and blood and other pathology tests are required. Interpret the results alongside traditional physiotherapeutic assessment techniques and non-clinical information to aid clinical diagnosis and decisions on potential treatment options/clinical interventions.

6. Be able to clinically justify referral into appropriate MSK pathways or community care spinal treatment service, rehabilitation services or secondary care services such as rheumatology, orthopaedics and neurology.

7. Use professional judgement and advanced clinical reasoning skills to make decisions about safe and effective patient care in unpredictable situations, including when there is incomplete/contradictory information.

8. Demonstrate understanding of the impact of physiotherapeutic interventions on existing conditions and treatment programmes e.g. podiatric treatment, drug therapies, etc. ensuring that physiotherapy interventions are integrated and supportive of the whole treatment aims promoting a holistic approach to condition management

9. Recognise potential underlying non-MSK related disease and conditions that present as MSK symptoms and to refer appropriately.

10. Work in partnership with the patient at all times to attain maximum participation in treatment programmes. This will include working with patients from diverse social background and cultures and understanding how this will affect treatment proposals and models.

11. Be accountable for decisions and actions via Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration, supported by a professional culture of peer networking/review and engagement in evidence-based practice.

Service/Professional Leadership/Consultancy

12. Integrate the FCP role into the wider primary care team, proactively working with the primary care team to build robust relationships and practices where practicable by providing expert advice and source of expertise in the management of musculoskeletal conditions to specialist healthcare professionals and members of the primary care team, including advising GPs on management of MSK conditions.

13. Contribute to the development of referral guidelines for MSK and MSK related conditions from primary care to other NHS services that will direct referrals to other primary care services, community, secondary and tertiary [specialist] services through feedback to the MSK Professional Lead.

14. Work with the PCN team to support preventative strategies for local populations, patient groups and individuals.

15. Active engagement in annual development review processes and peer review, embracing evidence-based practice.

16. Contribute to monitoring and review of service standards for MSK primary care services through feedback back on the service of peers to MSK professional Lead if best practice has not been followed.

17. Participate in/support investigations into complaints and clinical errors/incidents when appropriate.

Education/Workforce & Self Development

18. Participate in developing education and training of specialist physiotherapists up-to post-graduate level to support the development of advanced clinical practice skills and knowledge within the wider physiotherapy workforce if mutually agreeable.

19. Provide ad hoc training and supervision, some of which maybe to postgraduate level, for specialist primary care professionals, including GPs in order for them to develop specialist MSK patient referral and management skills.

20. Implement all aspects of effective clinical governance for own practice, including undertaking regular audit and evaluation, supervision and mandatory training.

21. Provide and receive clinical supervision through supportive WhatsApp groups for the FCP service.

22. Maintain a professional portfolio of advanced clinical practice knowledge and skills through participation in internal and external development opportunities.

Research and Evaluation

23. Promote and lead the integration of evidence-based practice and national guidelines into own and local FCP MSK service practice.

24. Use expert knowledge of evidence-based guidelines and national frameworks to influence the development of FCP services within the primary care team.

25. Lead or participate in research and MDT research projects as appropriate. This may include participation in cross organisational research and audit programmes.

26. Present and disseminate research and clinical audit findings to the primary care team as required.

27. Use audit and research to develop and improve service guidelines, care protocols, delivery of triage services and referral pathways.

Communication/Building Networks

28. When opportunities present, take the lead in communicating and influencing across the PCN the benefits of the FCP role in primary care.

29. Promote and explain the FCP role and what it can deliver to a range of audiences including patient groups, individual patients and other primary care team members, including GPs and care navigation teams.

30. Communicate effectively and appropriately with patients and their carers. This will include explaining the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment choices available to manage multi-pathology and complex conditions. It will also involve communicating limitations on treatment outcomes and managing expectations.

This job description is not exhaustive. It describes the main duties and responsibilities of the post. It may be subject to change in the light of developing organisational and service needs and wherever possible change will follow consultation with the post holder.

About us

Enhance Primary Health Care is an experienced provider of NHS commissioned and Non-NHS commissioned health and wellbeing services. Our team has vast clinical and leadership experience across General Practice and Secondary care; and working at scale across localities.

The FCP Physio Team currently cover 15 practices over 4 Primary Care Networks across Leeds, Otley and Wetherby.