First Contact Practitioner
What is an FCP?
A First Contact Practitioner service is provided by a registered health professional who is the first point of contact for patients, providing new expertise and increased capacity to general practice and providing patients with faster access to the right care.
They are qualified autonomous clinical practitioners who are able to assess, diagnose, treat and discharge a person without a medical referral – where appropriate.
What is an MSK practitioner?
Practitioners can come from a range of allied health profession (AHP) disciplines but are predominantly experienced physiotherapists however can also be from the fields of osteopathy and podiatry3, all of whom are registered with the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council).
What can they do for me?
These experts are advanced clinical practitioners (ACP’s) and in the case of physiotherapy they own extended scope skills such as pain-relieving steroid injection therapy, ordering and interpretation of x-rays/ultrasound scans and blood tests, they will also have non-medical prescribing qualifications2. With these skills MSK practitioners can provide a highly specialised assessment and diagnostic triage, they can check for red flags (cancer), provide advice on self-management and/or exercise and social prescription1, they also determine the basis for referral for investigations and further management into secondary care. They can help patients with back and joint pain, including conditions such as arthritis4 but also have a truly extensive scope of knowledge of the whole MSK system.
What is the benefit?
A genuine benefit to the patient is that MSK practitioners can be contacted directly, rather than waiting to see a GP or getting a referral to hospital4. MSK Practitioners take a significant proportion of the MSK workload from GPs this increases your local GP practices capacity, it supports faster access to advice and self-care expertise which the patient would have received after waiting for their initial physiotherapy rehabilitation appointment, and as a result MSK practitioners streamline the MSK pathway1.
Please note: The skill set of local FCPs may vary. It is recommended you find out what your FCP can do by contacting your Primary Care Network lead. Also please be aware that FCP’s from some of the Acute Trusts may not have extensive system one training to the extent that GPs have.
All FCPs should have experience and training on the FCP template they are required to use to complete their role and conform with the national data collection programme (NHSE).
How to get referred to FCP’s:
Some Primary Care Network’s have First Contact Physiotherapy practitioners (FCP) and GP’s or allied practitioners can refer directly into their diary for telephone appointments and Face to Face. Reception staff will need to be informed of this and will play a big role in ensuring suitable patients get booked into the FCP clinics.
A Typical patient
- Acute sub-acute injury strain sprain tear trauma; needing advice, imaging, referrals.
- Acute sub-acute sciatica requiring pain management advice and safety netting.
- Recurring joint problems needing injection therapy and prescribing i.e. OA knee
- Second opinion needed on MSK problem ?suitability for MSK triage, surgical opinion, social or exercise prescribing.
Patients not suitable for this service:
- Persistent back pain patients who have reached the end of LBP care pathway
- Fibromyalgia conditions
More on local First Contact Practitioners:
- Many local FCP’s are contracted to specific sites/surgeries and there are approximately 15 FCP’s across Dorset. Of these, 14 are employed and trained by local hospital trusts and subcontracted to Primary Care Network’s, typically staff work a half day to 1.5 days a week in this role.
One FCP is employed directly by a Primary Care Network and works 3.5 days a week, they also have the additional role of digital support (maintaining the system one FCP template and monitoring the national data collection programme which is run and hosted by the CCG IT service).
FCP reception phone script example