The Board welcomes Aotearoa New Zealand’s newest Specialist scope physiotherapist – Sarah Betteridge.

Sarah is an MSK specialist with extensive experience in orthopaedic rehabilitation. She says her decision to apply for the Specialist scope came out of her experiences working in the UK. “Prior to living and working in New Zealand I trained and worked in England where these types of roles had been evolving since the early 2000s.

“Over there at the time I could see myself on a pathway to a more specialist career, however, as a family the move to New Zealand was right for us. When I came to New Zealand in 2011 the options seemed to be to own your own practice or go into management and there didn’t seem to be a lot of options for other types of career paths until later when the Specialist scope emerged.

Sarah’s early career was split between the UK and Aotearoa New Zealand.

“In the UK, I worked for four years as a rotational physio before travelling here for a six-month working holiday. During that time, I got a really interesting job working in the ED in Christchurch public hospital where they were piloting a seven-day service. We looked at what impact that had on waiting times and the number of admissions and discharges.

“After that I had another trip back to New Zealand where I worked in the Orthopaedic and Rheumatology departments for a year before moving back to the UK. In my next role I was involved in setting the set of the physiotherapy department in a new private hospital. We developed all the musculoskeletal services closely with our medical colleagues.”

After moving back to Aotearoa New Zealand permanently Sarah started to study toward her Masters degree in 2017.

“After having had my children and returning to work I found it really difficult to perform at the level that I expected of myself so I decided that I needed to upskill and go back to University.

“Starting my Masters at the University of Otago was one of the best things I could have done at that point in my life. It reignited my passion for learning and my ambition. In the second year you decide which papers you want to study to gain your endorsement. Orthopaedic manual therapy seemed to be a natural fit for where I could see myself working.

“I had just started my studies and was following Dr Angela Cadogan’s work, when she advertised a position, for an intern which provided the guidance to develop skills and connections needed to be ready to apply for specialist registration. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work with a clinician I looked up to; an expert in the field. The opportunity and exposure to that particular client group was a huge advantage when it came to putting my portfolio together for my application for specialist scope.”

For other practitioners looking to apply for the scope, Sarah has some advice. “Have a plan in place and look for opportunities that will help you achieve the competencies. One of the experiences that I think added to my application is working with one of our local orthopaedic surgeons in an assessment/diagnostic role.

“I had sent him a referral letter that outlined my working diagnosis, and the steps I had taken to exclude other potential diagnoses with imaging and injection therapy. It was on the basis of my letter and clinical reasoning that he shortly after asked if I wanted to work with him. The role is similar to that of the fellowship doctors, where I’m investigating whether the shoulder is contributing to the patients’ symptoms. That led to presenting our work internationally at the New Zealand Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons meeting.

“You shouldn’t be afraid to knock on doors. I think those opportunities to go and observe, whether with a more experienced physiotherapist, specialist physio, orthopaedic specialist or sports physician are vital. You can only ask ‘Is it okay if I come and spend some time with you in clinic or can I come and watch you in surgery?’ Making those connections really helps.

“Along the way I have taken part in a number of other roles that were useful for my application. Getting involved in the wider physiotherapy community is important, I started on my local physiotherapy branch and now sit on the executive committee of the NZMPA. It’s been really fulfilling to be involved at this level.”

Now Sarah is registered as a specialist she is starting to think about next steps. “I think that there will be additional complexity that comes with the patients you see as a specialist but I’m looking forward to that.”