In March/April 2019, we surveyed the profession to see how many would be interested in becoming a Physiotherapy Specialist and why. We were particularly interested in what barriers practitioners were facing.

We ran the survey because we wanted to know why the number of applicants for specialist scope was lower than projected.

The response to this survey has been great and we’d like to thank those who took part – this feedback is invaluable.

The results of the survey show that although there were 872 physiotherapists who indicated they were interested in becoming a Physiotherapy Specialist, only three had applied. This was for a number of reasons:

• 69% indicated they had ‘yet to look into what is required’
• 13% indicated they were considering applying; and
• 3% were gathering evidence toward the application.

In terms of the largest barrier to applying:

• 38% stated they did not yet have the required level of academic qualifications or experience
• 29% stated the cost
• 22% did not see value in the role
• 16% the clinical assessment
• 15% the application process.

We have taken this feedback onboard and have reassessed the specialist scope process. This reassessment has implications for our fees schedule in the form of a proposed reduction of the fee for specialist scope application.

As with any fee-change we are required to undertake consultation, and as such we will be releasing our consultation on fee changes in the next few weeks.

Once again, we would like to thank practitioners for their feedback – it is immensely valuable to hear from physiotherapists on this and other issues affecting the profession.