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Guidance Notes for the Completion of Forms:

Initial Assessment Report

• Please ensure the Initial Assessment Report and Patient Consent Form is completed and returned to Health Response UK (HR UK) within two days of the patients first consultation. Failure to return these completed forms promptly will mean that the patients manager will be unaware of your recommendations and this will cause extreme difficulties with the return-to-work process.

Patient Update Form

• This form must be completed for any additional treatments that you require for the patient once the authorised treatments have ended.

Patient Discharge Form

• Please return this completed form to us promptly when you are discharging your patient. A delay in sending this form will result in difficulties for your patient with regards to their return-to-work process and will delay payment of your invoice.

Guidance Notes for Physical Therapy Clinical Providers:

Appointment Non-Attendance

• Please notify Health Response UK (HR UK) of ANY non-attendance for treatments by HR UK patients as soon as possible as we must inform the patient’s manager
• Do not reschedule the patient for treatment until you have been given approval from HR UK as you will not receive payment for any un-authorised treatments. Please note, after a non-attendance we need authorisation from the patient’s company to re-book any further sessions.

Unauthorised Treatment

• Treatments provided in excess to those that have been approved for funding will not be paid. If you are in any doubt as to whether approval has been given, please contact us immediately to verify the funding status
• Any recommended equipment, orthotics or aids will not be financed without prior authorisation.

Self-Referrals

• HR UK arranges all first consultations directly with our clinical providers. There are exceptional circumstances which we will advise you of, where appropriate.

New Referrals

• The initial assessment appointment is considered as one separate appointment (i.e. if 5 appointments have been approved for a new referral, this equates to the initial consultation/treatment + 4 subsequent treatment sessions).

Further Treatment

Should you feel that your patient requires any further treatment in addition to the sessions that have been approved, HR UK requires you to:

• Complete the Patient Update form and submit this to HR UK
• Suspend the patient’s treatment whilst awaiting confirmation to continue treatment (HR UK needs to gain a decision from the patient’s manager to either fund or discontinue further treatment)
• Resume treatment only when contacted by HR UK (verbal approval from either the patient or the manager is not sufficient authority for treatment to continue)
• HR UK will provide written confirmation for the additional treatment sessions.

There are several reasons why a delay can occur in the decision making process to authorise further treatments. HR UK fully understands your frustration and the disruption to the progress of treatment that a delay in authorisation to extend treatment can cause. Please be assured that HR UK operations try their utmost to secure a decision for you as quickly as possibly.

Also be aware that all companies have limited budgets for the provision of physical therapy treatment and a patient’s employer is under no legal obligation to provide rehabilitation. Once a company can no longer fund further treatment due to restricted budgets, a patient will be encouraged to continue treatment with you, if required, on a self-funded basis, or be transferred to NHS treatment.

New Symptoms Unrelated to the Initial Diagnosis

If a patient develops new symptoms which are unrelated to the initial diagnosis you MUST:

• Submit a Patient Discharge Form to conclude the initial treatment
• Contact HR UK to inform us of the new symptoms (HRUK will need to contact the patient’s manager to obtain authorisation for the treatment of the new condition)
• Suspend treatment for the new symptoms until you are contacted by HR UK to authorise treatment for the new symptoms.

Encouraging Patient Self-Help

• The purpose of HR UK is to provide rapid access to short-term physical therapy treatment, reducing absenteeism associated with acute musculoskeletal injury
• Although many patients referred to HR UK often have acute-on-chronic complaints, due to budget restrictions, many companies are not able to fund long-term treatment. Therefore please ensure wherever possible that patients are encouraged to pursue self-help measures such as advice on:
  • Care with work/home activities during and post the rehabilitation period (e.g. care with lifting and handling techniques, preventing repetitive strain, the importance of taking breaks)
  • Appropriate self-help exercises and stretches to assist with the rehabilitation process and to maintain a patient’s general fitness after they have been discharged from treatment.

Recommendations for ‘Light’/‘Modified’/Alternative Duties

• You should encourage a patient to ‘return to work’ whenever it is safe and appropriate to do so based on your clinical opinion
• This may involve a recommendation for the patient to reduce the number of hours he/she works or to request that they are employed on modified duties
• Some employers support and encourage their employees to return to work as quickly as possible by ensuring that there are alternative/light duties available for them to safely return to the workplace during their recovery phase. However please be aware this is not always possible and in some workplaces no alternative duties can be easily made available. In these circumstances the patient will need to be signed off from work duties until he/she is fully fit to resume their full normal work duties. In these circumstances it is important that you regularly update HR UK’s clinical advisers to keep them informed of the patient’s progress.

GP referrals

We require you to refer your patients to their GP if:

• 1. The patient is not responding to treatment and you feel further investigations are required. Please inform us of your referral decision, write to their GP, and send a copy of the GP letter to us for our records
• 2. The patient requires further treatment and this has not been authorised by the patients’ manager (and the patient is unable to fund their continuation of treatment with you). In this case, HR UK require a referral letter to be written to the patients GP to request a referral to NHS physical therapy. Again, please send a copy of this letter to HR UK for our records.

Further Referral for Investigations or Consultants

• Occasionally it may be appropriate to request an X-rays/MRI's or refer the patient to a specialist consultant
• If you feel that this is necessary, please contact an HR UK Clinical Adviser, initially by phone to discuss the case
• We will require a referral letter outlining the reasons for this request as HR UK has to obtain authorisation from a patient’s employer for any additional private medical referrals.