Nottingham City Care Partnership - Nottingham

Wendy Austin

RE: Mosaic Service

After needing to use a physio service through the NHS, rather than private, I have been so disappointed with the service.

I'm doing the same exercises that a private physio had recommended which have made no difference to the issue I have. Appointment availability is abysmal. When I went for my first appointment the practitioner tried to book a follow up and all the next months appointments were already taken. I had to wait a couple of weeks to be able to book an appointment. This meant two months between appointments. This has happened again. So, an appointment every 2 months? From a clinical perspective, I don't think this would be recommended.

Following my second appointment, I was left in excruciating pain and was practically bedridden for 4 days. I managed to book an emergency appointment as it recovered as there was a cancellation. I hoped that by going in would result in a meaningful conversation and physio that would help. I ended up leaving the appointment with the realisation that to actually have my issue treated I would have to go back to a private physio.

The practitioner kept asking me what I wanted from the service? They said that there was very little they could do but that we could try to find ways to manage the pain. Being bedridden and unable to move, parent, work and function is not an option. I tried to explain this to no avail and ended up feeling frustrated, angry, quite emotional and despondent (after several days of pain and little sleep). Even my little girl who was with me asked me why they kept asking me what I wanted and said "it was quite obvious mummy, you just want your neck fixed". If I knew exactly what treatment I needed, I would be a physiotherapist.

The private physio I saw last year did lots of manipulation and traction work, acupuncture and massage. It worked really well and there was lots of improvement until I could no longer afford to go there anymore. The private physio also said that that the area should be scanned which has been refused by my GP and the Mosaic service.

15 minutes of assessment, limited physical interventions and a bi-monthly appointment is not treating this issue, no matter how much time I dedicate to doing all the exercises I am doing. Isn't this a waste of time and money?

Sadly, I think this is endemic within the services provided by the NHS and that there is a bigger fundamental issue underlying this, the underfunding of the NHS.

I am now trying to re-budget my finances to find a way to go back to the private physio because I should not have to live in chronic pain with no meaningful treatment.

I did try to complain on the day to management.... but no one was available.

Melancholy Sky

Stated on my booking for physio that I needed to goto boots Victoria centre so I was stood outside in pain for an hour past my booking waiting for them to open just to find out not only had I missed my appointment but I've also had to manually re-apply and re-book my appointment. No clear instructions / guidance was given on how to get there with my booking atleast that I could find and it wasn't clearly sign posted where I needed to go from the boots entrance. I struggle with adhd / autism and was in a lot of pain so figured it was just a scheduling error and now I've got to potentially look at another month wait in constant daily pain till I might be able to get another appointment

Kevin Bowles

This service is fantastic . The staff have all been kind, professional and friendly. They just couldn’t do enough for my 93 year old Mother in law. She is well on the mend now thanks to these Angels .Thank you to everyone of them. X

gladys kalubi wa mbengwa

Ethel Anderson

Claire Birkett-Hardy

Gobinda Acharya