New research from the York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) suggests that giving chiropractors the same status as physiotherapists and osteopaths in the NHS could free up hundreds of thousands of musculoskeletal (MSK) appointments per year, and slash waiting times in the midst of an MSK crisis. The analysis estimates that over 100,000 more patients could be seen with the help of chiropractic care.
YHEC estimate the annual economic benefits to the UK economy would be £400 million and over £1.5 billion across the duration of this Parliament, returning people back to work quicker while simultaneously cutting NHS wait times.
President of the BCA, Tim Button said:
"This expert analysis brings to life in a rigorous academic way what many in our sector already know - if we were part of the NHS, we could help more people back to work quicker. Chiropractors are in every community up and down the country and are ready to the help the Government in its mission to grow the UK economy. It cannot be right that GP surgeries are being overrun with MSK appointments when our community is ready to help beat the backlogs and get patients back to good health and back to work. The BCA are calling on the Government and NHS to recognise our profession as Allied Health Practitioners and stand ready to work with Government and NHS to make it happen."
York Health Economics Associate Director, Nick Hex:
“Our Health Economics Report set out to dissect if chiropractors can deliver equivalent treatment to their similar MSK care counterparts, and if doing so would be economically beneficial to the UK economy. Our findings indicate that there is a ready to go resource in communities that could provide MSK treatment and strengthen the UK workforce. Taking our conservative analysis as the minimum opportunity for the economy and NHS, supports the BCA’s recommendations that chiropractic care can boost the UK’s economy, whilst alleviating current pressure on the NHS. Which directly aligns with the governments healthcare objectives of moving more care into the community.”
Waiting times have risen to record levels. An average 30 million working days are lost each year due to musculoskeletal conditions. This not only contributing to a significant backlog for the NHS, but stifling UK productivity as thousands of people lose out on working days whilst they wait for treatment. Indeed, sickness absences in the workforce has been estimated to be responsible for more than £100 billion of lost productivity in the UK every year and more than a quarter of workforce sickness absences relate to MSK conditions.
Chiropractors, who are qualified and regulated healthcare professionals are not currently part of a coordinated approach to address MSK waiting times. Chiropractors and wider healthcare professionals (support of other healthcare professionals) are urging the Government and NHS to officially recognise Chiropractors as Allied Healthcare Professionals (AHP).
The Government’s announcement to stop wait times of longer than a year by March 2025 has faced criticism about its achievability. Through the spare capacity available in the chiropractic sector, they (chiropractors) could help support this government and NHS colleagues to unlock immediate treatment options already established in communities.
Background information:
MSK conditions include a wide range of issues affecting muscles, bones, and joints, such as back pain, arthritis, and repetitive strain injuries.
Chiropractors are not currently classified as allied health professionals (AHPs) in the UK. As a result, chiropractic provision is not included in the MSK strategy adopted by the NHS to address the waiting lists for MSK treatment.
Chiropractors are a regulated by the General Chiropractic Council as established by parliament. They require a minimum four year masters level qualification to be a qualified practitioner.
One of the key questions York Health Economics set out to answer was “What are the potential economic gains, in terms of productivity, through improvements in peoples’ ability to return to and remain in work through appropriate management or treatment of their MSK conditions?”. Report summary and full technical report is available on request.
The economic analysis used considered a wide range of potential outcomes for patients on the MSK waiting list, as such the figures used in this report are a conservative estimate accounting for patient scenarios where there is a natural drop-off, recovered, patients receive other treatment or need further intervention. As such, the findings may be an underestimation of the potential economic productivity benefits of using chiropractors to address NHS waiting lists.
The average waiting time to see an MSK physiotherapist used in this report was calculated using the Community Health Services Waiting List dataset from NHS England.