Physiotherapy platform Phio goes live at 11 NHS organisations

Eleven NHS organisations, including three primary care networks (PCNs) have deployed musculoskeletal (MSK) triage and rehabilitation technology Phio. 

South Sefton PCN, NHS Orkney, and NHS Shetland are the latest organisations to go live with the solution in March 2025, meaning that around 2.3 million patients now have the option to begin physiotherapy care on their phone.

The Phio Access conversational computational assessment, built by EQL, asks the patient adaptive questions drawn from a decision-tree library covering more than 3,000 MSK scenarios.

Users are then signposted to the most appropriate care pathway, such as urgent care, a physiotherapy appointment, or managing their condition remotely.

Sarah Laing, executive lead at East Staffordshire PCN, which deployed the solution in January 2025, said: “We have adopted an exciting new physiotherapy service, Phio, to alleviate the huge pressure on our GPs and provide better access to physiotherapy for all our adult patients in our catchment area.

“We integrated the technology quickly in only a few weeks, and our service is already seeing early benefits.

“With increasing strains and economic pressures across the UK, it’s imperative we integrate AI and technology solutions as quickly as we can, especially at a primary care network level.”

Phio Engage is a companion smartphone app that delivers evidence-based exercise programmes, 24/7 access to clinicians via a messaging interface and a dashboard that tracks progress and pain scores, so that clinicians can step in if a patient’s recovery stalls.

The Phio service is also live at NHS Highland Argyll and Bute; NHS North Highland; Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust; Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust; NHS Borders; Your Health Partnership PCN and NHS Lanarkshire.

Results reported from Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust show that waiting times fell by eight weeks and more than 1,200 clinical hours were reallocated to complex cases.

Mick Thacker, professor of pain and head of R&D at EQL, said: “Faced with a national MSK pain pandemic, we have to widen the front door to care and make the best use of AI and technology.

“MSK pain is a societal issue, negatively impacting both the individual, their carers and loved ones, as well as employment and social well-being.

“Digital triage backed by good analytics and personalised care is the only realistic way to keep Britain’s population healthy while protecting human face-to-face services for the people who need them most.

“Digital approaches naturally support effective self-management, empowering the person to take control of their own condition.”

Meanwhile, in January 2025 NHS Lothian in Scotland made AI-powered physiotherapy clinic Flok Health available to nearly one million patients across the Lothian region as part of a large-scale pilot.