National Allied Health Professions Day: How geriatric physiotherapy provides person-centred care

Jo Jennings is a physiotherapist and Course Director in frailty and an Assistant Professor in enhanced practice at Coventry University. Jo is also a Clinical Tutor for Warwick Medical School and for the NHS England Advancing Practice Team as a centre reviewer. Her special interests include falls and bone health, frailty in urgent care settings and sarcopenia and frailty research. She posts on X: @JoJenningsNHS

To mark National Allied Health Professions Day, Jo explains why she is supporting the #ChooseGeriatrics campaign.

Watch Jo Jennings talk about her work with older people as a physiotherapist or read below.

I have spent most of my career working with older people. I was lucky as a physiotherapist that I got to really know that this is what I wanted because I was able to do some rotations and really understand all my options. I tried acute, community, adult and paediatrics, orthopaedics, respiratory, neurology and so on, but it was working with older people that I enjoyed the most. Fast forward nearly 25 years, and I still love working with older people.

I enjoy working as part of a multidisciplinary team, where we all work together to focus on what really matters to an individual, which is the basis for everything we do.

People have lived amazing, incredible lives and it’s great to hear the stories they share. I want to hear the journey that has made them who they are, and work with them to use that information to shape all the plans that we make together.

I love the complexity of working with older people. Sometimes you might want to do one thing, but you can't, so you have to improvise and work around it. That means there's a lot of problem solving and discussion with the person you are working with and the MDT to try to come up with solutions, which I really enjoy.

You get to work in a range of settings, and you get a lot of variety in your working day, that enables you to use the full breadth of your physiotherapy knowledge and skills. You might be using your respiratory knowledge and skills with one person, then your musculoskeletal skills or your neurological skills with the next person that you see. So, you really do get to see a massive variety of cases and use a little bit of everything.

I really love it. I wouldn't go back and change my career; I've loved working with older people.

For those of you thinking about what you should specialise in, I'd say, choose a career that means you get to work with some of the most interesting people. Choose working with older people, #ChooseGeriatrics.