Concern over graduate jobs for physiotherapists

ANOTHER 150 physiotherapy graduates have just hit the jobs market, just six months after the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists warned that 47% of last year’s graduates could not find work in this country.

The society is concerned that unless new junior physiotherapy posts come on stream, graduates will be lost to New Zealand and the US where physiotherapy shortages exist.

The Health Service Executive (HSE), with the support of the physiotherapists’ society, placed up to 300 graduates on recruitment panels earlier this year aimed at filling new positions quickly. Many of the HSE posts since developed have been for experienced physiotherapists, but the panellists have taken their former junior posts.

The HSE says a review of the panellists, two-thirds complete, has shown that 97% of panellists have found work as physiotherapists but the society fears many of these posts are temporary — such as providing cover during maternity leave.

The HSE has said that, along with the Department of Health and Children, it is working to ensure employment opportunities exist for the most recent graduates. A physiotherapist must have at least three years’ experience before they can undertake the role of a senior physiotherapist.

However, in the past week, the society has expressed concern at alleged moves by the HSE to fill locum physiotherapy posts with agency staff rather than panellists. It says agency staff cost twice as much as hiring a graduate.

They have also received reports that hospital management are putting increased emphasis on not superseding the HSE’s ceiling on overall employment figures. Hospital managers are being asked to prioritise recruitment posts.

“These new posts in acute hospitals are critical to developing staff grade experience for new graduates,” said Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists chairwoman Fiona McGrath.

Latest figures show there are 1,361 physiotherapists employed by the HSE. Thousands more are employed in the private sector.

“We’re now trying to ensure that there are senior physiotherapy posts down the line and that there are possibilities for juniors with the necessary support and supervision.

“There is huge change going on in the sector as the primary, community and continuing care increasingly takes over the profession. Before, physiotherapy was just in acute hospitals but, in the future, it will be about treating outpatients from the hospitals,” she said.

A HSE spokesman said 35 full-time physiotherapy posts were created in the first four months of this year. In addition, the continued development of HSE Primary Care Teams across the country will facilitate additional physiotherapy posts being created.

“Currently there is a disproportionate balance of grades within some of the therapy professions, with more senior grades than basic grades, resulting in fewer opportunities for graduate therapists. We are working with the professional bodies and IMPACT to ensure that employment opportunities will exist for graduates,” the spokesman said.

lwww.iscp.ie