Osteopathy - Reducing the Wait

Is there an osteopath in The House? - David Knight has been running an 'in-house' clinic at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden for the past two years - early indications suggest a reduction in manual handling injury within The Royal Opera House.

Osteopathy at BP Grangemouth - Through their sickness absence monitoring, BP Grangemouth have been aware for some time that in common with many other industries, musculo-skeletal disorders are usually the main cause of time lost from work or necessary modifications to an employee's workload - they saw osteopathy as part of the solution.

Osteopathy on the NHS - a growing business - The osteopathic department established by Claire Webster within Kensington & Chelsea Primary Care Trust two and half years ago is just about to expand further! Martin Pendry explains how.

Osteopathy at Standard Life - After reviewing their sickness absence statistics, Standard Life found that 25% of absence and referrals to Occupational Health related to some form of musculo-skeletal disorder - back, neck or upper limb problems. By introducing an osteopathic service Standard Life were able to proactively manage, treat and advise employees who were experiencing musculo-skeletal problems.

Osteopathic Patients - Statistics

In the UK, an estimated 24,000 patients consult osteopaths every working day. This amounts to nearly seven million consultations a year. Osteopaths are providing over 850,000 more consultations a year since 1997 and over 1.7 million more than in 1994.
There has been an increase in patients referred by or with the knowledge of a GP or Consultant from 22% to 26%, but the majority are still 'self-referred'.
The percentage of people who have heard of osteopathy and have actually received treatment has increased 25% over 1996.
Whilst over 86% of patients still fund themselves, Private Health Insurance now accounts for 10.4%, an increase from 7% in 1997.
95% of patients believe that the NHS should support osteopathic treatment. Information based on the GOsC Snapshot Survey and Public Awareness Surveys, November 2001

ICT Postures [Courtesy of General Osteopathic Council]

At least 81 million certified days incapacity (1992/3)*	33,000 work-related back accidents
Highest incidence in 16-44 age group	Working drivers 3 times more likely to suffer
80% suffer recurrence	500,000 work related back illnesses
Approximately 7 million visits to the GP for backs	58,000 nurses have back injuries
£350 million cost to NHS	3,600 nurses lost to the NHS each year
£70 million cost of nurse absence	Same prevalence in sedentary as in manual work
£50 million cost of nurse replacement	80% of VDU workers will suffer

In 1998, 40% of adults said they had suffered from back pain lasting more than one day in the previous 12 months. 15% of back pain sufferers said they were in pain throughout the year
Nearly 40% of back pain sufferers consulted a GP for help; 10% visited a practitioner of complementary medicine (osteopaths, chiropractors and acupuncturists)
A third of back pain sufferers said that back pain had restricted their activity in the four weeks before the interview. Women and older people were more likely to report that back pain had restricted their activity than men and younger people
5% of back pain sufferers aged 16 to 64 in employment had taken time off work during the previous month because of back pain
13% of back pain sufferers aged 16 to 64 who said that they were unemployed in the previous month mentioned back pain as a reason why they were not in work.

	Annual Spend	£49 Billion
	per person per GP consultation per person prescription per person Back pain GP consultations Prescriptions Out Patient consultations Physiotherapy X-ray	£790 £15.49 £86/year £420 Million £70m £48m £72m £63m £45m

Back facts

Case Studies

Osteopathic Patients - Statistics