Physio First – Why and What

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Well, hello there, listeners. Thank you for joining me on this week’s episode. I am really excited to be joined this week by a guest expert who is Katie Napton from the brand new chair from Physio First. And Katie is here to share with us some of her insights and Reasons as to why PhysioFirst exists, what they are doing for our industry, where they are going, and what they are creating in our industry.

And there is some seriously exciting stuff happening behind the scenes that is up leveling everything that our industry is about and what we are doing. And PhysioFirst are the front runners in a lot of this stuff. Listening, because it’s going to give you some real insights into why being a PhysioFirst member is.

Super important and how importantly it can benefit you personally, your clinic and your team. So let’s introduce Katie.

[00:01:00] Katie Bell: Welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast with Katie Bell. I am Katie, and this is the place to learn the strategies, tactics, tools, and mindset needed. To build your clinic or studio into a business that gives you the time, money, energy and fulfillment you want and deserve. My team and I work every day with overwhelmed and exhausted clinic owners like you to shift them from a business that is a huge time and energy drain and is not giving them the income they want to confident clinic owners that are making money, saving money and getting time back in their lives.

[00:01:31] Katie Bell: So if this sounds like something you want, let’s dive in. This podcast is sponsored by HMDG, the leading digital marketing agency for the Clinic owners is in the U. K.

Hi, Katie. Welcome to the Treat Your Visitors podcast.

[00:01:45] Katie Napton: Hi, Katie. Nice to meet you.

[00:01:47] Katie Bell: Nice to meet you again. We Katie, we met at the Expo, actually, a couple of years ago. And I think I just heard the news that you were going to be stepping in as chair of PhysioFirst. And then we met recently at PhysioFirst event. And you got formally welcomed to the position. So Katie, thank you for being here and taking this time to explain to everybody, all our listeners, a little bit more about what PhysioFirst does, what it is, how it’s changing, how it’s evolving, how it’s really adapting and being very agile with how our market’s changing and how people’s businesses are evolving.

[00:02:23] Katie Bell: So tell us so far the things that you’ve done since you’ve been in post and the things that you’re hoping to do and hoping to change in PhysioFirst.

[00:02:34] Katie Napton: I think I’m very lucky to take over what was actually a very forward thinking organization already. So if we look at their data for impact, they’re way ahead of the game in recognizing that importance.

[00:02:45] Katie Napton: And I think there’s, under recognition for what they have done so far. So I’m also feel, Slight can’t quite believe that I’m here. Would that be right? As, as also delighted, but so PhysioFirst itself is really an organization to support in all ways, really, any physio led Practice or practices.

[00:03:08] Katie Napton: So we have both, we have a range of options in terms of what the support that we offer, but it goes from sole practitioners to starting in private practice, to big clinics, to multi clinics. So it surprises people that actually we have such a range. And sometimes the complaint is, Oh, you don’t do enough for a sole practitioner.

[00:03:29] Katie Napton: You’re all for big clinics. And then you get the big clinics complaining. We don’t do enough for big clinics. We actually do have everything for everybody and like anything with slight fresh eyes, we’re currently looking at different things to bring in and how we can change and we need our members and our potential members to feed into that, to help.

[00:03:50] Katie Napton: So we’re agile, we’re keen to move. We’re keen to help that we offer that support that lots of. Physios and if you’re running a busy business, you need that support. And even as a, as a sole practitioner, you particularly may need the support in the early days whilst you’re getting established.

[00:04:05] Katie Napton: So we obviously have, we have our strategic partners of which you are one Katie, and we have Celia as well on the business side. So you’re there to help guide through with, Specific offers and support in whatever way. So I think that’s great. And then we have other strategic partners in terms of software and software deals.

[00:04:24] Katie Napton: The main thing is that we’re there. So we have an office based team that you can just phone call. So just a phone call or an email away and they will talk to you, talk you through your issues. And if necessarily, can pass you on to a physio that they know that might be able to understand the problem better or I happily chat to any members I’m always available via a kindly link if anyone really feels they need to speak to a physio who may know.

[00:04:50] Katie Napton: So I think it’s that accessibility and that’s what we can really offer. It’s that personal touch as long as, along with the DBS checks, the debt collection, the legal advice. When you start thinking about it, we offer a lot. I have, goodness. Yes, so it’s looking after everybody at whatever stage they’re at in private practice.

[00:05:12] Katie Bell: And I think that, Katie, I’m really glad that we’re recording this podcast because, rightly or wrongly, Probably because, Katie, I am incredibly low detail and never read emails properly and don’t look at all of the stuff. And so when I came to a recent event with PhysioFirst did this amazing presentation and it was showcasing all of the different benefits that Physio First members get.

[00:05:39] Katie Bell: And even as a strategic partner, I was blown away. Now, I think that’s something that I’m really excited for people to learn more about because you just mentioned that debt collection, the, this, these ways now of you have so many contacts and so many great people at the top of their game within our bigger industry that feeds into PhysioFirst now, don’t they?

[00:06:00] Katie Bell: And I met so many people on the day that were very in support of. of the members of PhysioFirst, and how they can help them, transform how they order their clinic supplies, how they write their notes in a better way, how they can bring students on placement and monetize that and leverage that in their business.

[00:06:17] Katie Bell: There was just so many different elements to it, which I think is really exciting.

[00:06:21] Katie Napton: Yeah yes, so one of our latest, you’re right, is that it is the Ecom store, which is basically any practice can have their own branded store, which they can use for their patients. But also we have now just organized it so that you can actually get clinic consumables as well at some of it is almost a cost price.

[00:06:41] Katie Napton: So it, is competitive, it’s there and I’m actually really proactive and really modern way of thinking. And then in terms of thinking more of that clinical picture, we’re running the skills exchanges. So the physio first skills exchanges mean that it’s an opportunity that we support people to share knowledge.

[00:07:00] Katie Napton: But also looking towards the student side and the less experienced physios, it’s a way to embrace manual handling, manual skills in whatever form we like to think of it. I like to think of touch as being facilitatory. It is helpful. If someone’s come into clinic, I do think you should touch them. So I think people need to learn because it’s only by practice.

[00:07:22] Katie Napton: So we’ve taken on board lots of students and we’ve helped them support that. And clinics that have run these have found it a really good way of potentially sounding out new physios or at least getting in touch with potential physios. So things are really progressing and moving forward with that and it’s becoming really known as a, an opportunity and that’s supported and run by PhysioFirst.

[00:07:45] Katie Napton: So only it has to be run by a PhysioFirst clinic and that’s really the only thing it’s free for everybody.

[00:07:52] Katie Bell: And Katie, you am I right in thinking you are a physio yourself? You’re a practicing physio.

[00:07:58] Katie Napton: I, yes, always practicing.

[00:07:59] Katie Bell: Yeah, so

[00:08:00] Katie Napton: I’m a sole practitioner, but I, it’s all right, I did get introduced once as, this is Katie, my practicing physio, and I went, yeah, I’m giving it a go.

[00:08:09] Katie Napton: Anyway, so I am a sole practitioner. I have my own clinic and I also run a video clinic where I have a number of physios supplying video consultations as well. So a bit of a mix.

[00:08:21] Katie Bell: Yeah, so I guess you’re coming into this post with the experience of being a clinician, but also running a business and trying to navigate all of the challenges that business owners and clinic owners have.

[00:08:34] Katie Bell: Our industry is, I think, at the forefront of some very exciting changes. I think some very necessary changes. And I think we’ve got an exciting few years ahead. And I, And what I really like about what Physio First are doing is you’re almost being ahead of that in terms of the conversations you’re having with strategic partners and bringing people in and offering those benefits to, to, to the members in terms of, AI and the econ stalls, just to systemize and put better processes into your clinic and in your business.

[00:09:05] Katie Napton: Life is for living, isn’t it? So we need to make it as simple as possible. And I suppose it’s a personal passion of mine is health innovation and digital enhancement to make things as simple as possible. And, like it or loathe it, AI is here. It’s developing. It’s only game to get more.

[00:09:22] Katie Napton: So we need to work with it. So we need to work. with it, let it do the bits that actually potentially is going to be better than us at doing. And then we can help guide it and flow it as it moves through. We prefer that than Silicon Valley deciding exactly what it can do. So we need to keep abreast of what’s going on.

[00:09:38] Katie Napton: So I think that’s, a really big passion. And yeah, so I, I have to say I’ve adopted clinical notes. I am also talking to a company that’s developing them within the NHS and we’re looking at how we can line it up with best practice guidelines and things like that. So there’s lots of really exciting stuff that, hopefully PhysioFirst will be one of the first to then be able to give that to our members or enable them to access that sort of information.

[00:10:05] Katie Bell: And these are all the things that take clinic owners. So much time to figure out for ourselves, because there is lots of different options out there and you don’t know which one to go and I think what’s great about being part of Physio First is that it almost takes all of that leg work out of it in a lot of ways that you get to just know Almost you guys have done all of that hard stuff behind the scenes to really understand, Is this company the right company that we want to promote?

[00:10:33] Katie Bell: And we’re happy to promote to our members and get our members a discount or a specific offer for so I think for me, I think it just saves clinic owners a whole lot of time as well

[00:10:43] Katie Bell: I

[00:10:44] Katie Napton: mean, obviously that’s the idea so that we’ve done due diligence. We check all the software’s appropriate for usage in the healthcare industry.

[00:10:51] Katie Napton: As we know, we need to be careful. We need to look after data. Data’s precious and important and not just to be, lost into the ethers. So yeah, no, the idea is that you don’t have to do that because we’ve. done it, we’ve worked at it, we’ve checked, we have our, checklist of things, and also we’ve tried it in practice, so I will, I would rarely recommend something that I’ve not used or had a really good look at.

[00:11:15] Katie Bell: And with the, what we see happening, what, how is PhysioFirst evolving with that? What kind of, can you give us any exciting things that, that you can see happening in, in practice? People’s businesses in clinics and how PhysioFirst, because I think we, it is now there is so much going on and so much happening that you’re having to go with speed and keep up with everything as well and you’ve got a great team that are doing that behind the scenes.

[00:11:39] Katie Bell: What exciting things has PhysioFirst got in their pipeline to support clinic owners?

[00:11:44] Katie Napton: I think further development of the eStorm will definitely happen where it will just be the go to and it will build and as it builds and has more usage, it become better. So it’s like all these things, it’s always tricky to get it right first time, and you have to work on these things.

[00:12:01] Katie Napton: In the background, we’re working on streamlining our operations and hopefully then that will enable us to, to free up and potentially provide some Better member benefits as we move along, looking in terms of, it will be the answer in terms of CPD as well as business support and things like that.

[00:12:19] Katie Napton: So there’s lots of work in progress and over the next sort of six months things will change. But as I said before, we’re reliant on our members and our potential members telling us what they want. And if they can tell us what we want, then we can do our best and work our hardest to provide it.

[00:12:34] Katie Bell: And I think that’s something that’s really interesting Katie, perhaps needs more of an explanation is that what I hadn’t realized until being a part of PhysioFirst is is the involvement the members have and can have.

[00:12:47] Katie Napton: Yeah, no, I mean we have the most phenomenal volunteer team so across, so we have, not only our execs but To, run the, so we have that educational part, which is Tobias, who does a phenomenal job within touch and that producing that magazine that has some really great clinical, so it’s crossing that bridge, isn’t it?

[00:13:06] Katie Napton: Between research and then, and what you can use in clinical practice, which we all like to more think about what can we take away to the clinic and not quite, personally, not quite so heavy on the research stuff. And then, we have Belinda who does all the. So we have this great exec team and then Liz, who does all the research.

[00:13:23] Katie Napton: I’ve got to think I’m not allowed to forget anybody now, I’m getting in trouble. And we have Jill and Pam who are doing all the communication. So we have a phenomenal exec team who work really hard and these are volunteers. But beyond that, we have all our community reps. And Lucinda does a fantastic work, gelling them all together and they can come in and out doing things that they’re like, and they’re interested in.

[00:13:44] Katie Napton: And we’re reliant on them. volunteers. It’s physio run for physios. We need them. And obviously the more we have, the better spread we have and the more mixed ideas we have. But we do have, we have a great network and it’s growing all the time. But we’re always happy to have more.

[00:14:01] Katie Bell: Please. I think at the last meeting Lucinda made a comment which was, this isn’t about Having to commit and volunteer into something that is massive and going to take all of your time.

[00:14:12] Katie Bell: You can give to it what you can give to it, when you can give to it. And everybody’s roles fluctuate as business, sometimes people are busier and have quieter periods and you can then be involved more or less as your business allows it really.

[00:14:27] Katie Napton: Yeah, it’s definitely that flexibility.

[00:14:29] Katie Napton: They are volunteers. We can’t force them to do anything. In general you would hope not, no. And, if there’s a particular passion someone has, then, that’s great. Run with that. We can do something with that or we can channel it in a different way. If it may not be in our sort of strategic plan at that time, it’s certainly something we can bear in mind or it definitely.

[00:14:51] Katie Napton: There’s a lot of people who, life is busy, isn’t it? Young kids, work, everything like that. But just that little bit, just being involved, even if it’s just attending one of our webinars or our community meetings, we’d have to go, like everybody all via Zoom. There’s just being involved.

[00:15:08] Katie Napton: So just being at some things. Helps and is great. So yeah, it shouldn’t be onerous, but it’s like everything else. I think we’ve talked about before, Katie, you get out what you put in general. So if you just put that bit in, you tend to get a lot more and we’re a really supportive community. So for lots of people, it’s been a really great sounding board of ideas or problems, and some of us have been there and all been around for a rather long time and we may well have had that experience and we’ll be our opinion on it which can sometimes be useful.

[00:15:41] Katie Bell: Yeah, and I think one of the biggest benefits I see is that, running your clinic can be a, an extremely lonely place, and it can sometimes feel like you are the only person that gets it, and you’re having to firefight and almost think about everything from your own brain, and sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees, and actually having that resource and having access to people who are in a similar place, or have.

[00:16:05] Katie Bell: Walk that, walk and talk that talk, or have been there and walked that path before you is It’s invaluable, isn’t it?

[00:16:13] Katie Napton: Yeah, it’s I think it’s essential. It’s that bigger picture or just a slightly different, either we can talk it, we can call it helicopter view, whatever, you can use whatever phrase you want to, but it’s someone looking at it from a slightly different angle and just giving you a completely different perspective can change how you then choose to move forwards.

[00:16:30] Katie Napton: And I think we, we all need people, And people with experience and expertise or who’ve either walked to that wall before can make such a huge difference.

[00:16:42] Katie Bell: Yeah, absolutely. So for people listening to this who are not, how dare they, a physio first member how do people find out a little bit more about what all of the amazing things that you offer and maybe have a conversation with somebody or if they want to become a member, what do they do?

[00:16:58] Katie Napton: So if they just go to the website, which is soon to be updated on my ad so that’s physio first dot. So that does have a list of benefits. You can then there’s an email contact to mine of, I think the old email address still works. Yeah, so there’s a email address they can contact. They is a phone number as well if they wanted to call.

[00:17:18] Katie Napton: And from that you can do, if you’re particularly interested or you particularly wanted to talk to one of the exec team, then that’s no problems. You can request a link. Really, we can usually answer most of your queries that you have, but all the information is on the website. There’s so much information, hence it needs a bit of updating and redoing, but it’s a problem, isn’t it?

[00:17:36] Katie Napton: Everything gets a little bit overloaded and then it becomes a little unclear, but we’re developing that and improving that. But, have the conversation, just go and look at the website. Click the email contact and say I’ve got some queries. There’s also the essential guide which you can download in terms of if you’re setting up in private practice and that’s absolutely free.

[00:17:55] Katie Napton: It’s also sits on the CSP website and it’s a a collaborative piece and that’s really useful. Again, it is due to be updated as well, but we have information for free that’s there, that’s useful. But if you’re at all interested, which you should be, then contact us contact the office team, they’re fab, and they will help you out and answer any queries that you may have.

[00:18:15] Katie Bell: Amazing. And Paisley, I will make sure all of those links are in the show notes below this podcast, so you can easily access those for anybody that’s listening. And I think one of the things that. PhysioFirst does so well, it’s and this is not a plug for my next masterclass for you, but it is a reason why people should be involved with it, is that we have the, another update to the HCPC standards in September of 2024, whenever you’re listening to this podcast, I’m recording this in July so it’s about, what clinic owner has got time to read that lengthy document and really get their heads around it and then make sure that they’re complying and make sure that their team are complying and make sure that they’re ticking all the boxes.

[00:18:55] Katie Bell: And so last year when we had the big updates and then we would do our biannual audit, we, I ran a masterclass for PhysioFirst which was very well attended. Clearly everybody needed it. But that’s one of the benefits is that. I was able to disseminate all of that information, give it to clinic owners in a way that they could easily understand and implement into their practice.

[00:19:18] Katie Bell: And then we’re doing the same. I know, Jill’s been in touch with me about running another masterclass in August, ready for the September update. So all of that stuff that you, we absolutely should be being kept up to date. We absolutely should be compliant. We should be, adhering to the standards.

[00:19:34] Katie Bell: But we also get that you’re time poor, stressed, overwhelmed and need that support. And that’s what PhysioFirst can offer, isn’t it?

[00:19:42] Katie Napton: Yeah. And it’s just to make it easy because as you probably, physios tend to be, have all and more than they need in terms of that evidence based practice and HCPC guidelines.

[00:19:53] Katie Napton: Most of us are doing it. We’re there. We just panic for some reason. And it’s just making it simple, accessible, calm it down a little bit. And yeah, so we did the, yeah, we produced a checklist just to make it easier for people to know when those first changes are brought in and yeah, you’re helping us out, which is great.

[00:20:10] Katie Napton: And it needn’t be as scary as people make it. So we just try and just keep the message sensible.

[00:20:17] Katie Bell: Yeah, and which I really hope I do because it is not a worrying time. It’s not a time to panic. And as you’ve said, most people are already doing this already. It’s just finding a way of documenting it, evidencing it, showcasing it, and having a system, as we’ve talked about, in place that means when you get our biannual audit again in two years time, you’ve already done the legwork.

[00:20:39] Katie Bell: You don’t need to wait till a month before and then go into meltdown.

[00:20:43] Katie Napton: Yeah, I think it’s it’s just that fear thing for whatever reason. I don’t know quite why we get quite so scared because as I said, most are doing more than adequate CPT, more than adequate clinical reasoning, more, it’s all there and if you’re doing our DFI, you’ve got all the evidence based stuff done, dusted not a problem.

[00:21:02] Katie Napton: Yeah, so whatever we can do to make it easier and reassure people, then, that’s great. Is

[00:21:09] Katie Bell: there anything else you would like to add on this episode to promote How Fabulous Physio First is? Then here is your opportunity.

[00:21:19] Katie Napton: Oh, okay. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t. So that would be my first why wouldn’t you?

[00:21:25] Katie Napton: We run various membership ways. So there is a pay as you go, if you’re not entirely sure, but again, it’s just checking that you. Getting the most out of it. So if you’re a member already, I think there’s probably stuff that you’re not using or you’re not aware of. We have a weekly bulletin that has like clinical insights and gives you information and marketplace stuff.

[00:21:45] Katie Napton: I’ve just attended iFont and so we’ll be feeding back some of the latest things from there, which is really interesting and there’s lots of other stuff going on. So I think we are up to date, which might be some of the criticism we sometimes get. We’re up to date. We are agile. We’re moving, we’re doing stuff and we are evolving as we need to, because as we’ve talked about, things are changing in the marketplace, things are changing with clinical practice.

[00:22:09] Katie Napton: Things are changing with, business management. So there’s lots of things changing, but so are we. So hopefully we’re answering any of the issues and we’ve got the answers and the support that people might need. Give us, give it a go, join.

[00:22:24] Katie Bell: Amazing, I agree. Katie, thank you so much.

[00:22:26] Katie Bell: It’s been, I think really helpful for physios to just be able to hear from the chair herself the benefits of physio first membership and what you offer and why people should be a member.

[00:22:39] Katie Napton: Thank you, Katie.