OUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT?
What do we offer which is unique to other similar services? Neil Liffen combines his working week working as a specialist musculoskeletal physiotherapist and as a diagnostic musculoskeletal sonographer. He performs in excess of 5000 diagnostic examinations per year in radiology departments at several NHS and private hospitals. At ECP, he is able to offer a unique service of combining his specialist physiotherapist skills with diagnostic ultrasound (DUS), to tailor the patients’ management and/or treatment.
WHAT IS POINT OF CARE ULTRASOUND?
A one stop clinic – point of care (POC) service refers to the use of portable ultrasound machine for diagnostic purposes, alongside full orthopaedic physical examination i.e. physical examination and DUS is performed at the same time, by the same clinician, in the same clinic, hence improving the patient’s diagnosis and ultimately management.
The main advantages of the POC ultrasound are:
– No NHS waiting times for DUS.
– Physical examination and DUS performed by the same clinician and at the point of care.
– Potential targeted treatment is started earlier.
– Potential onward referral to a specialist is started earlier, if DUS findings indicate specialist opinion required.
Point-of-care DUS improves healthcare and patient management by complementing the full orthopaedic examination and ruling in/out suspected pathology and/or improving the patient management pathway for potential onward referral or investigation. While traditional methods of performing a physical examination are of critical importance, healthcare practitioners that become skilled in the use of POC DUS become uniquely empowered to improve the management of the patient. Hence, the advantage of using ECP services.
PLEASE NOTE: DUS is not indicated for all conditions and not for spinal injuries/pain. Also, in patients’ who do not improve with conservative management are commonly referred for further investigation. Investigation findings offer little help, unless they are clinically related to what the patient is experiencing.
TREATMENTS WITH DIAGNOSTIC ULTRASOUND
DUS is an excellent examination tool to use alongside treatments such as Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) and guided injections. DUS allows the clinician to target the pathological (abnormal) tissue using ESWT. ESWT is excellent tool for treating the heel pain (plantar fasciitis) and tendons problems of all joints. Also, DUS allows the clinician to perform guided injections by ensuring the steroid and/or hyaluronic acid solution is in the targeted tissue. We offer these services too.
We aim to offer the very best level of service in patients’ diagnosis, ensuring efficiency in patient management. POC ultrasound saves patient time, money and resources and allows for improved client satisfaction and healthcare. If you require further information please do not hesitate to contact Neil Liffen.
Diagnostic Ultrasound Machine
