NEWLY qualified physiotherapists are working in shops, banks and circuses because they cannot get NHS jobs. Meanwhile more than 1,000 senior physiotherapy positions remain unfilled.

A survey of 1,523 new graduates by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) found that 805 have failed to get jobs in their chosen career.

Phil Gray, the chief executive of the CSP, tells Therapy Weekly (Dec 1), that the problem is the overemphasis on creating senior positions to achieve waiting-time targets at the expense of basic grade jobs. There are currently 1,500 vacant senior physiotherapy jobs. Gray says the situation could affect patient care.

The Government is responding by launching an online clearing house to encourage trusts to advertise unfilled graduate posts. Gray is sceptical though: he says that there is a shortage of jobs to advertise.

Rebecca Potter, an unemployed graduate physiotherapist working as an NHS secretary, says: “I am absolutely devastated and stressed, and my confidence has taken a real hit.” She has applied for 19 basic-grade physiotherapy jobs since July. “My training seems a waste of time. It’s incredibly depressing that I have spent all this time and money, and now I can’t work in a job I want to do. All I want to do is work and get my skills into action while they are still fresh.”

www.csp.org.uk

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