Our teams work in close liaison with medical staff, nurses and other allied health professionals.

Physiotherapy provides services to most specialist areas, including:

• cardiac services
• stroke
• trauma and orthopaedics
• elective orthopaedics
• burns and plastic surgery
• respiratory medicine 
• medicine for older people
• spinal cord injury

The department also provides outpatient musculoskeletal services for patients referred by consultants. These services are located in the outpatient department that includes a large, well-equipped gymnasium and hydrotherapy pools.

The special skills in assessment and treatment techniques of physiotherapy are very important in helping patients regain their full physical function, or to make best use of impaired function, after a period of forced immobilisation and also in patients with respiratory disease or other medical conditions.

We are fortunate to have specialist physiotherapists in a wide number of fields working at the leading edge of service development. We have close links with the chartered society of physiotherapy and are actively involved with teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

We also have a team of physiotherapists working in the community. This service provides help for people with musculoskeletal problems, encompassing a vast range of different conditions but if you have a pain in a joint or in your spine for example, then we can help.

We try to meet your needs by offering treatment on seven sites around Buckinghamshire and are open from 7.30am and generally until late in the vening on all sites.

We only offer treatment where there is clear evidence that it is likely to help. This involves helping you to understand the problem and giving you support and advice about how to make sure you stay fit and well.

The service employs many skilled therapists and can offer a number of treatments such as acupuncture and advice on exercise. We have two departments in leisure centres and where possible make close links with other leisure centres to help you get back to doing those things that are important to you.

We have several therapists with very detailed knowledge of diabetes and can help you to get the most out of life and stay well. They work closely with specialist nurses and you can be confident that you will receive the most up to date care.

The service can be contacted at the following sites:

Brookside Clinic (Aylesbury), tel: 01296 566438
Buckingham Hospital, tel: 01280 826941
Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross Hospital, tel: 01753 883692
Chesham Leisure Centre, tel: 01494 784484
Thame, tel: 01844 213471
Marlow, tel: 01628 482292
Wycombe: tel: 01494 603322

Patients can be referred to us by a GP and we accept some referrals from hospitals outside Buckinghamshire and A&E referrals.Currently, we are not accepting self referrals.

We also provide a chronic pain and fatigue management service in the community.

The aim of the chronic pain and fatigue management service is to reduce the disability and distress associated with conditions causing chronic pain and/or fatigue eg musculoskeletal pain conditions, osteoarthritis, neuropathic pain and chronic fatigue syndrome/ME.

The service aims to help people who have chronic pain and/or
fatigue who have not responded to other interventions. The management programme help people to develop physical, psychological and practical techniques to enable them to improve their quality of life and reduce their reliance on health care services. Following face-to-face or telephone screening, if a client meets the criteria for the service they will then be offered an assessment to establish suitability for the programme.

The service provides pain management programmes
(PMPs) at Rayners Hedge in Aylesbury and Amersham Hospital. The PMPs are led by members of an interdisciplinary team including clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, nurse specialists and anaesthetists. Each group has up to 10 participants and meets weekly for 2.5 hours for up to 10 weeks. The service provides chronic fatigue management programmes (CFMPs) at Rayners Hedge in Aylesbury. The CFMPs are led, again, by members of the interdisciplinary team and each group has up to 10 participants and meets weekly for 2.5 hours for 10 weeks.

All participants are offered an individual review following completion of the programme and a follow up at six months. The groups use cognitive-behavioural principles and methods. Each session has explicit objectives, with topics including pacing, relaxation, coping with thoughts and feelings, work/leisure, communication and relationships, sleep and medical management. The format of the group is interactive, participants are encouraged to share their experiences and strategies for coping. Information about chronic pain/fatigue and techniques for managing it are taught.

The team can be contacted on the following numbers:

Aylesbury (Chronic pain and fatigue):
Chronic Pain and Fatigue management Service,
Rayners Hedge, Croft Road, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP21 7RD. Tel: 
01296 393319, Fax: 01296 392480

Amersham (Chronic pain):
Chronic Pain Management Programme, Amersham Hospital, Wielden Street, Amersham, HP7 0JD. Tel: 01494 862548, Fax: 01494 734699

The service is available to anyone registered with a Buckinghamshire GP and the service will accept referrals from other areas on an individual contract basis.

Referrals are accepted from Buckinghamshire GPs, consultants, other health care practitioners (occupational therapists, physiotherapists etc) and social care professionals.

 The referral criteria are as follows:

Age 18 or overBuckinghamshire GP or by agreed contractFit and ready for the programmeIn the case of CFS, the individual must have a confirmed diagnosis of CFS/ME.

The chronic pain and fatigue management programmes are suitable for people experiencing any of the following:

• Pain/fatigue interferes with daily living

• Work is impaired

• There are periods of over activity followed by enforced rest

• There are problems in medication use

• There is a heavy reliance on equipment such as collars, walking sticks or wheelchairs

• The person is very distressed by the pain/fatigue or its consequences

• Referrals can be sent by post or faxed to the chronic pain and fatigue management service at either the Aylesbury or Amersham base.