EMPLOYEES from East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust have been crowned physiotherapy team of the year after scooping two national awards.

The two prestigious profession-wide awards were given for their work in reducing sickness absence.

The team were crowned physiotherapy team of the year and also picked up the reducing health and social care costs award at the annual Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s awards.

Lee Barnes, 33, is the clinical lead physio for the FAST Physio service and has worked in East Lancashire hospitals for 10 years.

She said the team, which was set up in August 2010 providing physiotherapy advice and support for East Lancashire Hospitals’ 7,000 staff, were “honoured” to win.

She added: “We were really happy and just couldn’t believe it but we were over the moon.

“We have all worked really hard to provide this service for hospital workers and for the general public. The service provides excellent physiotherapy services and it’s a real honour to be recognised for our efforts.”

FAST Physio has reduced musculoskeletal sickness rates at the trust from 14 per cent in September 2010 to just over nine per cent in December 2011.

The service also showed a return on investment of £367,000 in its first four months of operation by reducing the number of temporary staff the trust hired.

The saving is equivalent to the cost of employing an additional 15 nurses or 22 cleaners for a year.

Dr Helena Johnson, chair of council at the CSP, said: “The CSP awards recognise physiotherapists who show innovation and excellence to provide even better services for patients.

“FAST Physio’s award is richly deserved. Their work demonstrates how the NHS can make big cost savings on health and social care, provide high-quality patient services and improve staff health and wellbeing all at the same time.”