Physiotherapy service
Staff establishment and team structure
The Physiotherapy Service has a staff establishment of 16.1 full time equivalent Physiotherapy positions and 2.0 full time equivalent Allied Health Assistant positions.
Clinical activity in Physiotherapy is delivered by three (3) teams:
- Respiratory
- Orthopaedic/Musculo-skeletal
- Neurosciences
- with a small range of clinicians rotating across teams in order to maintain flexibility and succession planning for clinical sub-specialties.
Paediatric Physiotherapy Clinical Research is supported by all Senior Physiotherapists and is facilitated by a Clinical/Research Senior.
The management team of the Physiotherapy Service is formed by:
- the three (3) senior staff that lead the clinical teams
- the research senior and
- the Physiotherapy Service Director.
Across all areas, the Physiotherapy Service
- provides clinical support
- supports education in these areas across the State and
- strives to increase the production of high quality clinical research within paediatric physiotherapy.
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Service ethos
The service actively fosters the evolution of a clinical culture that
- supports the delivery of evidence based practice
- supports the development of clinically relevant research
- supports the development of benchmarks using service evaluation and quality improvement methodologies to identify best practice
- communicates respect for the skills of therapists working in settings across the State.
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Physiotherapy services for patients and families
The physiotherapy services provides
- Core clinical service for
- Respiratory conditions
- Orthopaedic/Musculo-skeletal conditions and
- Neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions
- Oncological and heamatological conditions
- Clinical service for low incidence conditions
Services provided include:
- a range of acute and non-acute programs to patients and their families
- access to inpatient services 24 hrs per day, 7 days per week
- outpatient services
- outreach services across the State for some subspecialties
- consultation and clinical support services
- clinical leadership to support service providers external to the RCH in managing low incidence, more complex conditions.
The Physiotherapy Service strives to
- support the continuity of a child’s treatment
- provide appropriate and timely family-centred management and advice
- work in shared care arrangements with local therapists where this promotes optimal outcomes for patients.
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Aquatic physiotherapy
As one of the few tertiary paediatric institutions in Australia that offer Aquatic Physiotherapy, the Royal Children’s Hospital’s Physiotherapy Service provides a high quality comprehensive Aquatic Physiotherapy service.
Aquatic physiotherapy may be provided to both inpatients and outpatients as part of recovery or rehabilitation.
The hydrotherapy pool used for aquatic physiotherapy is also available for use by external agencies under strict guidelines.
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Education and research
The physiotherapy service supports:
- clinical research through its active research program and the provision of research supervision for honours and post-graduate students
- clinical education of Physiotherapy students
- Physiotherapy Masters students to develop advanced skills in specialty areas of clinical practice
- professional development and clinical support for Physiotherapists across Queensland.
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Referral
Hospital medical officers may refer patients.
Referrals for outpatients are accepted only from external medical practitioners via the Department of Emergency Medicine.
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Contact information
Phone: 07 3636 8506
Fax: 07 3636 5181
Address: Ground Floor, Surgical Building. Royal Children's Hospital - Herston Rd, Herston.
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