PATIENTS in need of physiotherapy are “not getting the quality of care they deserve” amid rising concerns about cuts to services, leading physiotherapists warned today.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) said that NHS services are freezing recruitment, “deleting” posts and cutting rehab space.

As a result, patients are waiting longer, getting less rehabilitation and “living with avoidable disability,” it said.

A survey of 548 physiotherapists in England found 79 per cent are concerned staffing is insufficient. 

Some 72 per cent reported recruitment freezes, up from 63 per cent in 2025. 

More than a third said posts have been “deleted” and 30 per cent reported cuts to entire services.

Almost a third said they now have reduced time with patients, and a third reported dedicated rehab space had been “lost,” while 47 per cent said patients are experiencing increased disability. 

Some 74 per cent say they cannot provide quality rehabilitation, and 27 per cent are seeing fewer patients weekly. One in five reported increased waiting times.

The CSP warned the ambitions to move care into the community may fail while physiotherapy posts and rehab spaces are “eroded.”
It called on the government to lift recruitment freezes, protect facilities and invest in the workforce.

CSP director of policy Rob Yeldham said: “The government cannot deliver on its promise to build a better NHS while rehabilitation services continue to deteriorate. 

“You cannot cut waiting lists, keep people out of hospital or shift care into the community while dismantling the very services that make those ambitions possible.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said rehabilitation services “play a vital role” in helping people recover, and the government is “taking action to strengthen community care” and, through record investment, is “building a health service that is fit for the future.”