Setting: An elderly man hobbles into the physiotherapy gym; he is moving at a slow pace and is extremely unsteady on his feet. In his right hand he uses a broken wooden stick and on the left, he is leaning onto a younger man. The younger man helps his grandfather into a chair before coming to ask me for some assistance. A very politely spoken young man, he asks if I could, in anyway, assist him. His grandfather had a terrible fall and now is unable to walk properly. He needed to know if there was anything I could possibly do to help, as they are really struggling at home. I felt completely helpless, as I knew the answer to his question as soon as they hobbled through the door. There was nothing I could do, we were completely out of stock, and had no idea when we would be getting any new devices. The young mans face fell and he walked away with his grandfather, the disappointment clear in his expression.

In accordance to all hospitals and clinics, assistive devices are equipment that is always expected to be readily available. Patient’s who have recently suffered a stroke, a lower limb fracture and are unable to weight bear or simply someone needing help with walking due to old age; these are just a few of the many types of presenting patient’s who will all need access to some type of assistive device. This can be anything from, a single crutch to a walking frame.

However, at my current placement, there are no assistive devices available at all. Stock was re-order in May of this year, and yet there is still nothing available. We were told that if patients come looking for an assistive device or the trauma doctors call for crutches for someone who has fractured a leg, we have to say, “Unfortunately there is no stock available, and we are unsure of when we will be getting any. You will have to make another plan.”

It’s a shock that patient’s who should not be fully weight bearing on certain broken limbs now have to compromise the healing process of their limb, due to the fact that this big clinic is, not even under-stocked, but has no stock at all. This is extremely unethical to allow such lack of access occur, as the patient is now at such a disadvantage and is now risking their injury even further. A simple walking stick can go so far as to help a family member regain their independence and no longer need to have someone watching over them in case they fall.

Not only does this problem anger some of the patients, but it directs effects the smooth running of how a multi-disciplinary team should work together in a holistic manner in order to fully treat the patient. An assistive device might seems like something small, but without ones certain patients can come back with secondary complications, which the doctor now needs to sort out, but could have been prevented by another team member. This problem is something that is faced throughout the province, and I’m sure through the country. It is something that needs to be addressed urgently and proper management to oversee this problem.

According to the African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine, although users found services to be accessible, therefore, getting to the physiotherapist within their hospital or clinic was easily done, the organisation of services was poor.

Patients were met with challenges such as availability or adequacy. Either there was depleted stock or what was available they were unable to use.  These challenges fuelled perceptions of unacceptable services.

This perception of lack of services provided to the patient stems from the fact that stock is not available, and that the blame should not be put on the therapist issuing the devices, but rather on the slow supply from the government organisations. Something needs to change, as in the end we as therapist do not suffer as much as the patient’s who are in need of them.

References:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/820/1325