Zoe Johnstone, a clinical specialist physiotherapist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, shared her experiences of setting up a rapid response service and the obstacles she faced.

She told the event in Newcastle on 13 November 2015 that she began her clinical specialist physiotherapy post in November 2009 and started the rapid response service soon after.

‘I encountered a number of initial problems in setting up the service, including continued hospital admissions, prescribing and equipment availability issues and inappropriate requests from parents – such as a rather memorable explosive diarrhoea home visit request,’ she said.

Introducing information leaflets for parents and carers ‘explaining what we can and can’t do’ and becoming a prescriber helped to make a difference, she said.

An initial audit of the service audit demonstrated its positive impact, showing that A&E attendances and admissions fell, according to Mr Johnstone.

Courtsey - Chartered society of physiotherapy