Publish date: 25 July 2025
West London’s community services took centre stage when Philippa Wright, Chief Allied Health Professional (AHP) for NHS England - London Region, visited our teams yesterday, 24 July. Philippa heard from our Ealing Community Partners (ECP) Musculoskeletal (MSK) and Rehabilitation Services, who showcased the innovative work being carried out across the service and to share achievements, challenges and future aspirations.
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Maria O’Brien, Chief Executive welcomed Philippa to West London and Dr Stephanie Griffiths, Consultant Physiotherapist and MSK Lead for the Ealing MSK Service hosted the visit. The morning opened with a welcome and overview of ECP’s MSK and rehabilitation services, followed by an introduction to the range of community services supporting children and young people, delivered by Mita Mistry, Head of Children’s Services and Specialist Adult Therapy Services.
Philippa Wright then provided an update on the London AHP landscape, sharing insights on national priorities and how local services can align to meet emerging demands. The discussion that followed explored how services across Ealing are not only responding to current challenges, but actively innovating to enhance patient care.
Education, prevention and documentation
The agenda included a series of in-depth presentations from frontline clinicians and service leads, each highlighting a different area of clinical excellence and quality improvement. Geisha Demello, a Physiotherapist in the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team, presented on disease-specific education and the impact of group-based interventions such as the ESCAPE-pain class. Mirko Vracar, Trainee Clinical Lead in the MSK Physiotherapy Service, shared learning from multidisciplinary approaches to prevention.
Arti Upadhyay, Clinical Lead and Advanced Practitioner in the MSK Physiotherapy Service, discussed the development and use of a Documentation Standards Audit Tool to ensure safe practice across the service. The focus on quality continued with Karen Leci, Lead Physiotherapist for the Neurorehab and Falls Team, who presented innovations in the virtual vestibular pathway and the Stroke Early Supported Discharge programme.
Following a short break, Amanda Cole, Occupational Therapist in the Falls Team, presented work on the Ealing Falls Prevention Service in the context of the updated NICE guidance for 2025. Gaurang Pattni, Band 7 MSK Physiotherapist, spoke about the collection of clinical outcomes and shared findings from the recent MSK HQ audit.
Stephanie Fernandes and Patricia Pepe concluded the quality improvement segment by presenting an evaluation of goal setting in short-term rehabilitation, focusing on assessment practices and action planning. Dr Griffiths closed the session by looking ahead to future developments, including digital tools and the introduction of a Community Assessment Day model.
The visit was a valuable opportunity for staff to showcase their work and engage in meaningful dialogue with the regional AHP leadership. The high level of clinical insight, innovation and collaboration on display throughout the day reflected the Trust’s commitment to delivering exceptional, patient-centred care.