A daughter enquires about physiotherapy for her father. He came out of hospital nine days ago, he is not steady on his feet, he has a frame he is not using properly and getting him into a car is now a two person job.
She is not booking an appointment. She is trying to work out whether someone will come to the house.
Step 1: publish that you offer it
Home visits are the whole question and are frequently mentioned once, halfway down a services page. A dedicated page saying you visit, which areas and what it costs converts families who assumed it was not possible.
Step 2: publish the area and the travel charge
Postcodes or a radius, and whether travel is charged separately. Families call three clinics and the one that publishes coverage gets the enquiry.
Step 3: capture the practical access details
Steps to the front door, stairs inside, which floor the patient is on, whether there is parking and whether anyone will be there to let the physiotherapist in.
Step 4: capture the mobility position
How the person moves around, what equipment they use, whether they can get to a bed or a chair unaided and whether they need assistance to stand. This determines whether one person can work safely.
Step 5: ask what has already happened
A hospital discharge, a fall, surgery, a stroke or a gradual decline. Each needs different preparation, and any discharge summary or existing exercise programme is worth asking for.
Step 6: handle the third-party enquiry properly
The enquirer is usually not the patient. Capture both sets of details, the relationship, consent to discuss and who to contact about appointments.
Step 7: ask about space and surfaces
Whether there is room to work, whether floors are suitable and whether furniture can be moved. A treatment plan that needs floor space cannot happen in a room where there is none.
Step 8: publish the fee structure plainly
Per visit, whether travel is included, whether a block is cheaper and what an initial assessment costs. Families are often paying privately and need to plan.
Step 9: explain what happens at the first visit
Assessment, discussion with the family, a plan and what equipment might help. Families imagine a treatment session and it is usually an assessment.
Step 10: be clear about what you cannot do
Some situations need equipment, a second person or a clinical setting. Saying so honestly, and suggesting the alternative, is better than a visit that achieves little.
Step 11: route anything urgent properly
A new fall, a sudden change, pain or a suspected injury needs medical attention rather than a physiotherapy appointment next week.
Step 12: families research at difficult hours
They enquire in the evening after a hospital call, which is the pattern in dementia care enquiries from families, while employer-funded work behaves entirely differently as in workplace and occupational physiotherapy enquiries.
Getting started
Publish your coverage area, fees and what a first visit involves, then capture access and mobility details at any hour, which extends the approach in home visit physio requests and what to capture. SpideyChat for physiotherapy clinics answers from your published pages, much as described in an AI receptionist for physiotherapy clinics. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.