I thought as my first blog, I would explain a little bit about why I started Baby Steps Physiotherapy…
As some of you may have seen, I previously worked under the umbrella of ‘Wyatt Physiotherapy’ alongside my husband. We offered three different services: Adult Physiotherapy, Performance (Personal Training) and Paediatric Physiotherapy. It was getting a bit much trying to manage the three very different services, so we made the decision to separate out the Paediatric service, hence the start of Baby Steps Physiotherapy.
As mentioned in my bio on the website, I also work within the NHS, but I am currently on maternity leave after having my second baby. My job title in the NHS is a ‘Highly Specialist Neonatal Physiotherapist’, but what does that actually mean? To give a bit of background, I did my training to become a Physiotherapist at Oxford Brookes University. I worked for 2 years in the adult sector completing what us in the physio world call our ‘core rotations’. This means moving round different specialties every 4-6 months to give us foundation skills and experience in different areas. One of my rotations involved Paediatrics, and I quickly knew it was the area where I wanted to work.
I secured a job at Southampton Children’s Hospital and rotated around all the different areas of Paediatrics (some multiple times!) I completed extensive additional training, before, after a long wait, a job in Neonates, my favourite area, became available.
Neonates involves working on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Post-Natal wards, general Paediatric wards and within outpatient clinics. One of the many things I love about Neonates is that the work is really varied- we will see any condition, whether it is Orthopaedic, Neurological or Developmental, as long as the baby is under 2 years old.
Since starting up Baby Steps Physiotherapy, lots of people have assumed that I am no longer going to work for the NHS, but I fully intend to go back to my NHS role. In fact, I am going back in early August. Working privately has its benefits and I enjoy the new challenge, but it can’t replace some aspects of the job that I get from working somewhere like the NHS, such as the acuity of patients and my amazing colleagues. I am very lucky to say that I love my job.
Saying that, a real downfall of public sector healthcare is the follow-up availability for patients. What is available to you and your child can be dependent on something as simple as your post-code. There are strict criteria to meet, and even if there is a service available and you meet the criteria, there can be long waiting lists for input. In some cases, localities are only able to offer one-off appointments or short ‘blocks’ of treatment. It is no one’s fault, and all the staff do an amazing job to provide as much as they can, but there’s only so much they can do with the time and resources available. So I started work to do something about it.
Most people who go into jobs like mine genuinely want to help people. I relish making a positive difference to families in my NHS role and I want to expand that to other families too. Whether your baby has been unwell in hospital, or you are finding the transition to parenthood a challenge, I want to help. Becoming a new Mummy myself was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I thought that considering I work with babies, it would all be very natural to me. Yes, you have a newborn baby, but you are also newborn parents and can require support though this time.
Lastly, unlike in the adult world, the huge majority of Paediatric Physiotherapists work in the NHS rather than private practice. There is a serious lack of Paediatric-specific private Physiotherapy around, let alone Neonatal, or ‘Baby’ Physio. This may not seem important, but it is. I mentioned above the extensive training I undertook when I went into Paediatrics. Lots of private practices offer Paediatric services, but these are often provided by adult therapists. Children are NOT just small adults; they require a completely different approach to treatment and present with completely different conditions. If therapists are not seeing Paediatric patients and their associated conditions regularly, then patients are not going to receive the best care, and in some circumstances it can be unsafe.
So there you have it, my reasons for starting Baby Steps Physiotherapy. I really hope that you like the new website and that for some, the services available help and support you on your journey with your little one.
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