Professor Karen Middleton, Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), told an audience of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) physiotherapy staff that she was “absolutely impressed” with what she had seen during a day-long visit to the Trust’s Therapy Services Department.

Tweeting on her train journey home, she said: “The day was fantastic, my staff were quite overwhelmed, it was nothing like they had experienced before. I was really very impressed by everyone and really would love to see some national awards coming your way! You’ve set a high bar for my future visits.”

Prof Middleton met a range of staff during the visit on Thursday 14 August 2014 to see how members of the Physiotherapy Service work with the wider multi-disciplinary team across the hospital to deliver the best in patient care to support recovery and improve outcomes.

During a series of afternoon presentations a newly-commissioned video showcasing the range of breadth of the Physiotherapy Team earned a round of applause when it was shown to a packed audience at the Postgraduate Centre .

Earlier, Prof Middleton had visited the Young Persons Unit where she said she was “really impressed with how everything is centred around not just the patient but the person”.

Yvonne Pettigrew, Associate Director for Allied Health Professionals and Head of Therapy Services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), who hosted the visit with Catherine Elliott, Head of Physiotherapy Services, said: “It was a successful visit with some very positive feedback. We have strong leadership and it really made me very proud of the whole team.”

Prof Middleton was appointed Chief Executive of the CSP in February 2014. The CSP represents 52,000 physiotherapists in the UK.

The largest of the QEHB’s Therapy Services is Physiotherapy. Employing just over 100 registered physiotherapists and 25 clinical assistant support staff, the Physiotherapy service delivers clinical care throughout the hospital to both inpatients and outpatients. There are six Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) Physiotherapists attached to the service who work alongside the civilian staff.

There are an average of 1600 new inpatient contacts and over 7000 follow-up inpatients per month. The Physiotherapy Outpatient Service at QEHB treats an average of 320 patients a day, making this one of the busiest services of its kind.

For more information on the services at UHB, please see the Physiotherapy section of the website.