THE healthcare firm which provides the county’s NHS physiotherapy services has promised to improve following a string of patient complaints.

Healthshare Ltd has faced heavy criticism from patients over poor communication, long waits, and a complicated and confusing referral system since it took over the contract for musculoskeletal services (MSK) in October 2017.

Patients also complained that they could not get in touch with the private healthcare company with telephone lines constantly busy and emails left unanswered.

Healthshare, a private company which provides services solely for the NHS, was handed the contract by Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG), replacing previous provider Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

According to a report by Healthwatch Oxfordshire, one elderly patient was told he had to wait six weeks after being referred for ‘urgent physio’ by his GP, while another patient said her mental health had been affected by a delay in receiving a steroid injection.

Executive director of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, Rosalind Pearce, said: “We are grateful to all of those patients who took the time to tell us their experiences.

“As a result, we have suggested a number of ways in which the service could be improved.

“We will be monitoring the situation closely, and in particular, we would hope for a clear timetable, with a deadline, on when the problems with communication are going to be resolved.”

Over the course of the investigation into the services this year, Healthwatch said it had heard from more than 50 patients detailing what it described as a ‘dire patient experience’.

The local health watchdog said it had now secured pledges from Healthshare bosses to make improvements.

Recommendations include increased call-handling capacity, automated letters to confirm appointment details, improvements to the complaints process, and increasing the number of locations where services are available.

The last recommendation comes after residents hit out at the fact that, when Healthshare took the service on, the number of locations providing NHS physio in the county dropped from 13 to nine.

Healthshare partially blamed this on a lack of co-operation from Oxford Health, which owns many community hospitals where physio is offered in Oxfordshire, such as Wantage.

OCCG accepted there had been some ‘challenges’ since the shake-up but said key improvements highlighted in the Healthwatch report had already been implemented.

Any outstanding improvements must be done by Thursday.

Health chiefs have said they will withhold ‘significant sums of money’ from Healthshare if the service improvements are not now achieved on a quarterly basis.

A CCG spokesman said: “OCCG’s aim was to commission a service where people with musculoskeletal conditions could access high quality, effective and timely advice, assessment, diagnosis, triage and treatment at the right place first time.

“As with all major changes to services or transfers to new providers, there have been some challenges.”

Healthshare Ltd director Neil Cook said he welcomed the report adding: "We hope to work more closely with Healthwatch and patient groups to continually improve the service, and thank Healthwatch for the report, which will inform several immediate improvements."