Physio Med Helps John Lewis Partnership Save 41,000 Working Days

96% of staff maintained at or returned to work

November 24 2015 - Case Study

Background

Medical evidence shows that early physiotherapy intervention on musculoskeletal injuries can prevent acute conditions becoming chronic and promote swifter recovery.

In an industry that employs people across a wide spectrum of both physical and office-based jobs, the John Lewis Partnership was keen to establish a solution to help its employees recover more quickly and safely from injuries and conditions that required treatment. They also wanted to put into place wider occupational health and preventative measures to safeguard the wellbeing of its Partners (staff), and so turned to Physio Med to provide a robust, blended physiotherapy intervention and OH service.

Brief

John Lewis Partnership (JLP) employs circa 94,000 Partners across 414 UK sites, including John Lewis and Waitrose stores, distribution centres and Group sites. The range of job roles is vast - from warehouse operatives to office workers - and many are physically demanding.

With access to NHS physiotherapy via GP referral taking up to 14 weeks, Partners suffering from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) were often absent from work for extended periods or less productive at work while waiting to access treatment.

JLP wanted to offer all Partners consistent and timely access to physiotherapy services, to help reduce the incidence, duration and recurrence of musculoskeletal injuries and associated sickness absence.

JLP's objectives included:

• To reduce employee discomfort and pain levels, due to MSD
• To minimise associated absence and facilitate an early return to work
• To improve productivity
• To reduce the incidence, duration and recurrence of absence due to MSDs

Solution

In August 2013 Physio Med began working with the JLP Partnership Health Services across the entire group, to implement its innovative, award winning PAL (Physiotherapy Advice Line) service, which provides fast access to a blended approach of telephone triage, remote multimedia self-management and on-site face-to-face treatment and advice.

Partners reporting an injury via the JLP Health Hub receive a triage call from Physio Med within four hours, followed by an initial assessment from a Senior Chartered Physiotherapist within a maximum of three days, incorporating a series of evidence-based clinical questions, and movements and tasks to facilitate diagnosis to decide if they require face-to-face treatment or can self-manage their condition via PAL.

Those deemed suitable to self-manage are then given personalised treatment plans, exercises and advice on the best ways to assist the healing process. These include:

• Advice regarding their work station, lifestyle, medication, posture and methods of symptomatic relief
• Advice on modifying the working day to accommodate the injury
• An individually tailored progressive exercise programme created by the physiotherapist to speed up healing, communicated via comprehensive video exercise files, and accessed via a computer, smartphone or tablet.

Partners who require face-to-face treatment are treated at a JLP on-site facility or referred to one of 780 practices across the Physio Med UK network

Outcome

With average access time for NHS physiotherapy standing at more than 14 weeks, two of the key drivers for JLP were reducing the time employees were absent from work and improving the productivity of those at work but suffering pain.

Between February 2014 and January 2015, 2,324 appropriate referrals were made to Physio Med, with initial assessment appointments taking place within an average of just 1.9 working days of the triage call. 67% of all referrals were managed remotely, with 18% being referred for face-to-face intervention after initial assessment and 15% being referred for face-to-face after the full ten day remote intervention.

58% of Partners were discharged after ten days, as their condition was either resolved or they were able to effectively self-manage their condition.

At the point of referral, 20% of employees were absent from work, with 25% at work on modified duties and 55% at work but suffering pain and operating at reduced productivity levels.

Of those employees off sick at the point of referral, 89% returned to work following treatment and 96% of all who used the service were safely maintained at or returned to work.

By ensuring Partners were referred and treated quickly, those that used the service reported an average reduction in pain of 55% and improved productivity by 24% (59% to 83%) equating to 1.2 days pp/pw working a five day week.

In financial terms, the blended service model and fast access to treatment has bridged the gap in the NHS physiotherapy waiting list, helping JLP to reduce sickness absence and improve productivity - saving thousands of working days.

Based on the 2,324 Partners who engaged with PAL over the 12 months, JLP estimates it saved 41,010 working days, delivering an estimated saving of more than £2,676,000 - which equates to an ROI figure of 5:1

Physio Med reports back to JLP on a host of criteria - including anatomical injury site, job roles and further breakdown of the service impact on pain levels and productivity - identifying trends to help JLP put practices and measures in place to reduce future injuries and issues.

Nick Davison, Head of Partnership Health Services at JLP, said: "The range of operational roles throughout John Lewis Partnership is extremely varied, with many being physically demanding. As a business which invests significantly in the health of our Partners, we have developed our own unique internal health services structure. Physio Med recognised the importance of working with and complementing our own internal OH resources and adapted their ways of working to fit within our own operations.

"Physio Med was able to highlight that half of our Partners were receiving treatment whilst still working but at a significantly lower level of productivity. By introducing PAL and routing appropriate conditions that respond well to guided exercise through remote management, like back injuries, we have been able to help those Partners get better over a much shorter time period, reducing their pain faster, increasing their mobility and increasing their productivity by over 20%. A great result for the individuals affected and the business as a whole."

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