Allied Health Insights Vol.2, No.25: Advanced Scope Physiotherapy – Efficient And Responsive Models Of Care For The ED

Allied health advanced clinical practitioners have the potential to develop innovative, responsive, and efficient models of care in a range of healthcare environments, and indeed there are advanced AHPs who are actively doing this. Advanced scope physiotherapists (ASP) in Australia and globally have developed a number of emergency department (ED) innovations aimed at increasing both clinical capacity and efficacy of care.

One such advanced practitioner is Piers Truter, an ASP based in Western Australia. Piers developed a physiotherapy-led ‘virtual fracture clinic’ providing orthopaedic telehealth fracture care at Fiona Stanley Hospital, and is responsible for the ED musculoskeletal diversion clinic at Rockingham General Hospital—this clinic presents a novel model of care for Rockingham ED, which according to Piers has reduced wait times by an average of two hours.