Having set up in private practice 22 years ago, SP Therapy Services has watched a burgeoning sector grow around it. Here, founder Susan Pattison shares her views on its progress, and why community rehab has an ever-increasing role to play.
“We’re no longer a child who is complaining without a strong voice – we’ve grown up into the teenager who can articulate themselves.”
Susan Pattison’s analogy of the specialist neuro sector is an interesting one.
From setting up in business in the very early days of development for private practice 22 years ago, she has watched a thriving industry grow up around her.
“When I first set up in business, it was said many times I was like gold dust,” she recalls.
“Setting up on your own wasn’t common at all, particularly as a neurophysiotherapist. At that time, physio was about sprained ankles, not complex brain injury cases.
“When I was in my previous job, I was discharging people home to nothing, which is why I wanted to set up in business. I never set out to be a business woman, I just wanted to do right by my patients.
“I still remember my husband and family shaking their heads and saying I had six months to make a go of it, it was not widely done at all. It was a risk.”
As a trailblazer for private practitioners, Susan has gone on to build a thriving neurological physiotherapy and occupational therapy business, SP Therapy Services.
From its base in Bury, its nine-strong team covers Cheshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, South and West Yorkshire, supporting patients in both clinical and home settings.
“Now, it feels like my business is just a little goldfish in a huge pond, it’s a long way from the early days but these are actually really exciting times,” says Susan.
“We have grown up as a community and are making a lot of noise in the right ways. We have UKABIF banging on Parliament’s doors, helping to make neurorehab a hot topic, we’ve got BABICM setting standards for brain injury case managers, we’ve got Headway with their list of solicitors – and everyone is working together to move forward.
“I think the private sector has now come up and is a beacon of light for the NHS, we respond to the need and are there in support.
“A huge amount has changed over the past 22 years, and it is still changing. We have to continue to change, to work hard and progress together.”
And that need for ongoing change is something Susan feels passionately about – particularly the need for investment in community rehab, to support the work of the NHS post-discharge.
“If we are going to invest in saving a life, then we need to ensure a quality of life for that person. These people need rehab to have that,” she says.
“We can’t keep front-ending and need to invest in the longer-term care once they are discharged into the community. Rehabilitation has to happen in people’s communities as that’s where they live their lives.
“But investment in community rehab can’t be seen as a luxury, or something that is nice to have. It’s absolutely critical to people and families being allowed to rebuild their lives.
“With the impact of the pandemic, hospital waiting lists are going through the roof, and that is going to be pushed out into the community.
“But with such a strong private sector now, which has grown from the child into the teenager, as I put it, the support is there, it’s in place. And we’ll keep being that beacon for community rehab, continuing to call for the investment is needs.”
