Karen Willcock of Bolton Therapy Centre has decided to change her working practices in order to spend more time with individual patients. Karen is returning to running a private practice so she can specialise. It will be a better use of her time as she’ll be able to concentrate on looking at the most effective therapies for her patients.

She’ll still be working from Bolton Therapy Centre’s off ices on Chorley Old Road but changing her working practices means she can provide a better service for her valued customers. Karen will keep her links with the practitioners but will be reducing her time at the Centre and some areas of physiotherapy work.

She’ll also not be dealing with accident management companies anymore because Karen says they tell physiotherapy practices how many treatments they can offer and fees they can claim, which can lead to low quality treatment.

Her new approach means she’ll be able to use acupuncture and physiotherapy into whatever treatment is needed, as well as launching new treatments like facial rejuvenation acupuncture.

Karen is perhaps one of the most experienced physiotherapists in Bolton. After she qualified in her profession in 1979 she worked in Australia and the Far East for a year before returning to the UK to work at a hospital in Birmingham. After that she spent 5 years at a military hospital in Saudi Arabia and later Qatar running a fitness centre for the Qatari royal family. Once her stint working abroad finished, Karen set up her own practice in 1989.

Bolton Therapy Centre was originally based in Bark Street but moved to its current position at 13 Chorley Old Road in 1996. Karen is well respected in the physiotherapy community; sitting on lots of committee’s looking at modern practices, helps educate and develop other physiotherapists and is a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Council.

Physiotherapy has changed a lot over the past 3 decades, as physios now have more specialised roles and work more in the community. Time pressures within the NHS mean physiotherapists have less time for diagnosing and clinical reasoning, and only have time for advice and exercise says Karen, whereas private practices can use the time to create a bespoke approach to every patient.