HOLLIE Halls is a physiotherapist on the Burns Unit at Salisbury District Hospital.

Part of a multidisciplinary team, she helps to get patients back on their feet and moving about after a burn injury or trauma so they can return to their normal life.

“The patient is at the centre of their care,” she says. “We want to help them return to their hobbies playing golf, get back on their bike or be able to do extreme sports again.

“A lot of it is about breaking down a patient’s goals and then building that up, there is a lot of planning involved.

“We see them from the point of injury all the way through to scar management which can be two or three years in total.

“On the wards we will help them up and walking, using different pieces of equipment such as walking aids for example, and providing lots of encouragement and reassurance.

“It might also involve us sitting down with a patient and taking them through their injury – there is quite a psychosocial part to the role. As they become outpatients, we support them more holistically, looking at how they will return to living independently at home.

“Scar management involves teaching them to look after their scars until they’re fully healed.

“Getting to see a patient through their whole journey is really rewarding.”

The Burns Unit has four physiotherapists and one occupational therapist who work with around 40 patients. Appointments with patients can vary from ten minutes to two-and-a-half hours, depending on the needs of patient.

“We treat both children and adults,” Hollie says. “No one patient is the same - everyone has different things they want to get back and do.”

Hollie who has been at SDH for ten years studied Human Biology, Physical Education, Business Studies and Psychology as A-Levels before going on to do a degree in physiotherapy at the University of West of England.

She said: “Initially I wanted to be a sports physiotherapist but when I first trained and got into my hospital rotation here at SDH, I worked across several different areas over my two years and loved the ward work, particularly in the burns unit.

“We are a specialist regional unit with patients from across the southern part of the west. We work in conjunction with burns units and centres in Swansea, Bristol and Plymouth.”