Physiotherapists are working to significantly reduce waiting and treatment times for patients in Australian hospital emergency departments, new research shows.

Researchers at the Australian Health Services Research Institute at the University of Wollongong found the introduction of the primary contact physiotherapist (PCP) role is shaving an average of 31 minutes off waiting times, reducing the average treatment time from 148 minutes to 108 minutes.

The study, possibly the largest in the world to evaluate the impact of the primary contact physiotherapy model, found 93 per cent of patients treated by physiotherapists, and 75 per cent treated by other practitioners, were discharged from the emergency department within a four-hour time period.

Researchers examined the implementation of the primary contact physiotherapist role at 10 hospitals across five states and territories, with 29 physiotherapists treating 14,452 patients with musculoskeletal conditions in triage categories 3, 4 and 5 across two time periods.

They found the model, which also aims to free up doctors’ time to treat other patients, produced consistent reductions in waiting and treatment times and quicker discharge for musculoskeletal patients across all sites, regardless of whether the hospital was located in a metropolitan, regional or rural and remote area.

Published in the October edition of the Journal of Physiotherapy, the research is further evidence that primary contact physiotherapists improve the performance of emergency departments.

Researchers stated the results debunk concerns that physiotherapists may be over-cautious in their new roles and, consequently, may take longer to treat patients.

“In interviews prior to implementation of the program, other emergency department clinicians expressed concerns that PCPs would take longer to treat patients and would therefore have an adverse effect on treatment time,” the authors said.

“The data presented here clearly indicate that such concerns were not justified: treatment times decreased, on average, by around 40 minutes for patients under management of a PCP.”

Researchers stated the study is an important addition about the potential for the model to contribute to better performance in achieving key performance targets, such as the National Emergency Access Target (NEAT).

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) statistics show there were almost 7.4 million presentations to public hospital emergency departments in 2014-15, with 74 per cent of patients receiving treatment within an appropriate time for their triage category.

“Given the large scale of the study and the consistency of results across sites and triage categories, together with contextual data from the wholistic evaluation, this study provides important information about the potential for the PCP model to improve emergency department performance at a national level,” the researchers said.