First Contact Physiotherapist Enable Work and Health Service

The First Contact Physiotherapist is the Enable team's MSK specialist for working-age adults whose MSK condition affects their ability to work. You will assess, diagnose and manage patients referred through Enable triage without the need for a GP appointment, and agree a work-focused plan that supports them to stay in or return to work.

You will also be the team's source of MSK expertise. You will advise and upskill colleagues completing workability plans, and help shape how the pilot manages MSK presentations. Patients needing investigation, specialist or longer-term treatment are referred on through agreed pathways.

Main duties of the job

Clinical assessment and management

1. Work as an autonomous first contact practitioner, assessing and diagnosing adults with undifferentiated MSK conditions by telephone, video or face to face.

2. Screen for serious pathology and red flags at every contact, and escalate urgent concerns the same day through the GP and relevant emergency or specialist pathways.

3. Provide evidence-based management including advice, education, self-management support and exercise prescription, and agree realistic goals with each patient.

4. Give the patient's GP and the referring clinician clear, concise feedback, including any recommendations on medication for the prescriber to consider.

5. Use validated outcome measures at agreed points (such as the MSK-HQ and the Work and Social Adjustment Scale) to track progress and inform decisions.

6. The post holder will work within their professional registration, accredited competencies, local commissioning arrangements and MBPCC governance framework.

7. The post holder may request investigations where permitted by professional standards, local policy and individual competency sign-off, including diagnostic imaging and pathology tests relevant to musculoskeletal assessment and management.

8. Investigation requests must be clinically justified, recorded within the patient record and undertaken in accordance with local referral and diagnostic pathways.

Enable is one of four national pilots funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to test a better fit note process, and it is the most clinical of the four. MBPCC delivers it under an NHS contract across the Barrow and Mid Furness Primary Care Networks.