BUPA Physiotherapy Tender Process

[londonphysio]

I don't think this blog is 'clubby' at all. I think there may be additional threats from big business in central London which may not be apparent elsewhere, but otherwise we have some similar concerns. In fact, I imagine that i hugely disagree with some of the london physios who have posted here and have more in common with some of those outside.
I would imagine that the decisions in BUPA will be made than more than one person, too. But that there will be a few rumours before the final results are known, and understandable panic from those who have a large exposure to BUPA.

[physiobob]

I also do not feel that this thread is 'Clubby'. The only thing to consider is to thank all the London based physio's that they got together at an early stage to confront the issues and take the CSP and PF to hand over the real threat to the profession -to force them to address the bigger picture. And they have put their hands in their pockets as well. This is not to say that there were and are many, many outside of London physio's who also travelled into London for the meeting. Also many others who emailed that due to the distance they could not attend but wished to support the general consensus. And many have held similar meetings in their local areas. The tone of this thread and that on tpv has been one of unity, nationwide discussion and consensus as to why you might or (unfortunately) why you might not tender.

So let's not be distracted by diversional comments like one a few posts above this one.

Very few london practices are poly clinics. Most are smaller sole practitioner clinics and perhaps more so than anyone else in the country. But yes London based practices have high overheads and don't charge relatively more than the rest of the country. It is far more profitable with less risk and less fixed cost to be a physio outside of London. So let's stop with all the crap commentary that London based physio's charge a fortune and make lots of ££. It simply is not true and is totally misinformed.

As a London based practitioner my fees (which are pretty typical of the local area) are the bear minimum I can charge to bother staying in practice. To have any PMI challenge those and suggest I should charge less will make me shout. This is why London has shouted. It affects us most due to our larger fixed costs. And perhaps more than the money issue, most of the anger is also about clinical autonomy and the right to treat how we see fit and to charge what we think we're worth.

As this thread has stated many, many times - This is an issue for the physiotherapy profession in the UK. This is not about private practice. It is not about London. It is about physio students, students of the future, the future of the NHS blah blah blah. The sooner everyone takes that on board the better. If you get it, please explain it to those that don't.

And for the record those that have tendered, by and large have done so because they would be bankrupt it it succeeded and they missed out. And I think perhaps if you regionalise that you might find that is London centric as well.

[Mr Manipulator]

Have look and listen to this!:-

Insurance Drives Physical Therapists out of Business