Salary and terms and conditions in private practice

Hi

I have just returned to working as a MSK Physio in a private clinic after a career break to have children. I was grateful to get a job close to home and considered myself not as employable as perhaps someone who was willing to work full time hours. I have 4 children and only wanted to work part time.
my hours are 8am -7 pm 2 days a week and Saturday mornings.
i am self employed on a rate of £9 per hour.
i have 15 years of experience as a Physio taking 3 years out after my 4th child and agreed the lower hourly rate as my confidence was dented and I felt that probably it was the only offer I would get and was desperate to get back into practice.
however 6 months on my caseload is huge I'm fully booked working really hard to build up my client base , have brought a lot of clients to the clinic based on my contacts from my previous jobs and feel that I can put a good argument over for a pay rise.
Trouble is I'm not sure what to ask for.
what is the general going rate for a Physio with over 10 years experience in Private practice.
I also know that they want me to mentor a new member of staff who is full time and who is on a better hourly rate so now is a good time to negotiate better T & C's
i also tend to work alone and responsible for opening and closing clinic, invoicing, answering telephone, booking patients etc so I feel i take on a lot of responsibility, I don't need supervising!
Useful suggestions would be much appreciated

First off, you are not getting paid enough for the MSK work, let alone the administration and organisational role.
The main question I would like to know the answer to is how much do you charge for an inital consultation and how much for a follow up treatment. From there I would suggest thinking of a percentage of that figure to work out your hourly wage. Figures I have been quoted by colleagues have been around the 40-50% mark for a basic member of staff. However with this extended role you are performing and possibly developing further that figure may need to be a little higher.
The way I always approach pay negotiations is to look at how much money I make the company either directly through physio treatment or in savings by them not requiring a receptionist or admin staff. This is very difficult for a boss to deny when you have cold hard figures backing up your argument.

Thanks raafox
An initial consultation is £42 and follow up is £35. I hadnt considered the savings they make on not having to employ a receptionist!

So if you are working approx 24 hours from the times you listed and are fully booked with patients during these times then that is around the figure of 1500 pounds, from which you are paid approx 230 pounds (minus tax etc), lets say the receptionist is on the same money as you, that means an extra 230 in the boss's pocket taking their weekly earnings to 1250. You on the other hand are only taking 12-15%. Another way to approach payment is by being paid per patient, downsides are when you are not busy you don't get paid but plus side when you are busy you make very good money. I am 13 years qulaified and when I locumed i was earning about 26-27 pounds an hour in London and surrounding areas, so I would put togehter some figures speak to the boss and if you don't get a good deal try wokring somewhere else. Good luck

In my opinion you should be looking at 30-35% of what you bring in to begin with. Once back in full swing 35% would be a minimum with perhaps a bonus structure as an incentive to you to build and maintain a client list.

Thanks Physiobob and raafox. It sounds like I should be getting around double what I get now. Would you suggest I ask for an increased hourly rate or a percentage of what I take?

Depends on how many patients you are bringing in and maintaining and what they brings to the business vs. what you need as a minimum weekly income. Generally percentages are more common with more senior staff while a base salary might work (rather than an hourly) for someone more junior.

Its depends on how many patient you are bringing and maintains

The way I look at it this question depends on the type of business and the type of physio. If you are always busy and have a waiting list of clients and are not worried about whether you are going to earn enough each month then I would get a precentrage, if you have down time and quiet periods and are the type of physio that prefers that certainty when you open your wage packet then an hourly wage might be better. This can offer better piece of mind and easier financial planning for things.
For me although i like the idea of the hourly wage in practise the % system pushes me to work harder and motivates me when I am busy. When you have a long busy day you earn more, unlike hourly pay where you have the ceiling of pay achieved in one day

That is insane!

The private practice I work at is 68 quid for an initial hour consultation and 50 quid for a 30 mins follow up. Us physios are on a mix of rates from about 39% upwards. I'm on a 50/50 split. I qualified last May, so much less experience than yourself. I'm on either 50 quid per hour if I do two 30 min follow ups or 34 per hour for an initial consultation, with the hope of course of getting a fair few follow ups from that. This is London so might be inflated, but 9 pounds an hour sounds like what you would get answering phones in reception. Clinics I have had experience with tend to be 60/40 in your favour or 50/50. I bet your boss is laughing all the way to the bank!

I know I'm being exploited and I'm pretty fed up about it. To be honest I need to tackle the situation but because the csp doesn't have recommended minimum hourly rate for private physios and job adverts rarely say what the pay is I wondered if it was generally everywhere that paid so bad !

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Ironlike what happens when your clinic offers free sessions or offers. The clinic offers a free hour massage for every 5 paid for and gives out 20 % discount vouchers for birthdays and even 50 .% off first consultation vouchers are randomly glaring around and patients get a free massage for referring 2 people to us. It's marketing madness coz I'm chic a block and dont need more patients ! It seems they are very generous with patients but if i asked for 50:50 I'd be better if financially but would resent the offers!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marathonmumof4

I know I'm being exploited and I'm pretty fed up about it. To be honest I need to tackle the situation but because the csp doesn't have recommended minimum hourly rate for private physios and job adverts rarely say what the pay is I wondered if it was generally everywhere that paid so bad !

- - - Updated - - -

Ironlike what happens when your clinic offers free sessions or offers. The clinic offers a free hour massage for every 5 paid for and gives out 20 % discount vouchers for birthdays and even 50 .% off first consultation vouchers are randomly glaring around and patients get a free massage for referring 2 people to us. It's marketing madness coz I'm chic a block and dont need more patients ! It seems they are very generous with patients but if i asked for 50:50 I'd be better if financially but would resent the offers!

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We have to take a hit with bulk discounts and promotions, but it isn't too bad. People get 10% off a block of 5 massages, and sometimes we do events where people will get 25% off an initial physio consultation or the such, but it isn't that often that I have had to take a hit with this. In all honesty, I'm still earning pretty well even with this discount. We never give away free sessions unless there is a complaint, which is pretty rare.

I know I'm being exploited and I'm pretty fed up about it.

To be honest I need to tackle the situation but because the csp doesn't have recommended minimum hourly rate for private physios and job adverts rarely say what the pay is I wondered if it was generally everywhere that paid so bad!

I also know that they want me to mentor a new member of staff who is full time and who is on a better hourly rate so now is a good time to negotiate better T & C's

i also tend to work alone and responsible for opening and closing clinic, invoicing, answering telephone, booking patients etc so I feel i take on a lot of responsibility, I don't need supervising!

Useful suggestions would be much appreciated

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Rancho Electrical

Common situation and it sucks that Physio pay never seems to justify the effort and study!

Here's some comparative pay rates for Australian Physios and some different pay structures/contracts.

More importantly, here's our tips on negotiating a better pay rate with private employers using the win/win approach.

I agree with you @physiobob. However, there are situations wherein no matter how much patients you have, the monthly income is often fixed by hospitals and the physiotherapists are piad less. In my opinion, a profit percentage in response to the number of patients visiting must be paid to the therapists. It is only then we can ensure a fair payment to the physiotherapists.