A new case study has shown how valuable physiotherapy can be for companies who are looking to reduce the amount of time employees spend away from the office on sick leave.

Dr Phil Clayton, from Physio Med, told SHP Online about the impact it had on John Lewis. The global retailer has around 94,000 employees and has a number of physically demanding roles.

However, access to NHS physiotherapy can take a number of weeks, which can leave people with musculoskeletal (MSK) problems out of work until they can be seen by a professional. 

For a company, this means numerous days where they may have to pay for sick leave and also experience a drop in productivity because of the absent employee. 

With this in mind, John Lewis went to Physio Med to see what impact physiotherapy could have on its workforce.

It started by encouraging each employee to take responsibility for their health with its award-winning PAL (Physiotherapy Advice Line) service. The initiative uses a number of different approaches to try and help people improve their health such as fast-track telephone triage, remote multimedia self-management and on-site face-to-face treatment and advice. 

There was also an enhanced occupational health physiotherapy service that was put in place, which included Display Screen Equipment (DSE), Ergonomic Assessments and Functional Capacity Assessments.

Between February 2014 to January 2015, more than 2,000 referrals for physiotherapy were made, with initial assessment appointments taking place just 1.9 working days.

More than two-thirds (67 per cent) of all referrals were managed remotely, with 18 per cent being referred for face-to-face intervention after initial assessment. 

At the point of referral 20 per cent of employees were absent from work, with 25 per cent at work on modified duties and 55 per cent suffering from pain at work, which reduced their productivity levels. This highlights a growing issue of the cost of presenteeism for many employers.

Overall, the team calculated that physiotherapy had saved John Lewis 41,010 working days, which worked out to over £2,676,000.