Page 115 - RAPTC Number 102 2018/19

PCRF Catterick is still housed in its temporary location which is an old accommodation block, with this comes significant constraints with available space. There is no hiding the fact
that the gym is no bigger than a shoe box and not fit for a garrison the size of Catterick.
Along with myself the two other ERIs are WO2 (QMSI) Mike Arnell and Mr Stephen Overton (civilian ERI). We all used to travel to units within the garrison to deliver rehabilitation, however, audits conducted over several years demonstrated poor attendance rates from patients; between Jul – Dec 2016 12.5% and between Jan – Dec 2017 29%. Following the arrival of the new OC, Maj Dembry (now Lt Col), we were tasked with improving the attendance rates. After speaking with RRU Catterick we were given permission to use their facility to deliver rehab from a centralised location as long as it fitted around the RRU timetable.
After initial planning we devised a four-week block of rehabilitation consisting of a strength focused class and a trunk focused class. Ideally, we would have planned a six-week block, but we had to be realistic with how busy the units are and the likelihood of the patients completing the whole block.
The sessions were planned in a way that no matter if a patient was just starting the block they could be on the same session as a patient who was in week four. The strength class consists of squats, romanian deadlifts, lunges, an upper body horizontal push and pull; as the weeks progress the reps and sets change. The
SSgt Payling PCRF Catterick
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PRIMARY CARE REHABILITATION FACILITY CATTERICK
SSgt (SSI) D Payling RAPTC
PRIMARY CARE REHABILITATION FACILITY COLCHESTER
SSgt (SSI) B Mairs RAPTC
With another successful year in the books, PCRF Colchester continues to keep pace with the rapid forward momentum set by 16X. Situated within the Medical Treatment Facility on Merville Barracks, PCRF Colchester has a PAR of just over 3500 and serves all major and minor units within 16X, Colchester Garrison, and detainees held at MCTC.
Now fully manned, the PCRF is home to six Physios and three ERIs. A staff re-shuffle at the tail end of 2018 saw the loss of our Band 7 Physio, Maria Croll, who has moved to a part time position in the MIAC clinic at RRU Colchester. As a team we would like to wish Maria the very best for her new role. January 2019 saw OC PCRF deploy to South Sudan for OP TRENTON, a deployment he was very happy to be a part of. Losing these two key members of staff would normally have been a nightmare for any mere mortal PCRF team, but we stood strong and Band 6 Physio, Chris Blackledge (ex RAPTC ATI/ERI) stepped up to fill in the hot seat, a job which, no surprise as an ex RAPTCI, he is taking in his stride. Another new member of staff for this year and yet another ex RAPTCI, James ‘Jacko’ Jackson, stepped straight out of his role as RTSA at RRU Colchester and into his first ‘civi’ ERI role. A fantastic instructor; bringing a mountain of knowledge to the team. Welcome Jacko.
PCRF Colchester has continued to move forward and adapt to the ever-changing needs of the units we serve here in 16X. We have been offering units education with the introduction of bespoke MSKI Prevention presentations specific for the needs of individual units and their roles. In addition, we have introduced several new rehab classes within our time table at the PCRF. Of note the newly implemented Return to Impact (RTI) classes, researched and designed by SSgt (SSI) Barry Mairs, have been both extremely popular and successful at getting individuals back to full fitness
in a much shorter time frame. A recent, ongoing audit carried out on the RTI class has shown that the number of re-referrals up to the six-month post discharge point has dropped by 98% for individuals who have completed the full six weeks of classes.
As well as having a full weekly clinic seeing new patients, teaching classes, implementing the RTI class, and pushing the MSKI Prevention within 16X, I have also been a regular on both the military and civilian Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competition circuit; the Army BJJ Championships and was selected to represent the Army at the Combined Service BJJ Championships, taking gold in both Gi and NoGi in the heavyweight division.
Life at PCRF Colchester is a mile a minute, but the team here wouldn’t have it any other way. We are all looking forward to another great year in 2019.
trunk class consists of seven exercises which progressively get harder through weeks one to four.
Following the block, patients who are deemed appropriate conduct functional performance testing, which consists of single leg vertical hop, horizontal hop, and crossover hop.
We have found the block of classes to be beneficial in the decision- making process. After the initial six months was completed an audit was conducted between Jul – Dec 2018, this showed a significant improvement in the attendance rates up to 87.5%.