Business plans in physiotherapy: a practical guide to writing a business plan for the non specialist

摘要

Business plans are commonly used within the field of commerce as an essential element of the planning process for starting a new business venture. In physiotherapy, and in healthcare more generally, business planning is often considered the preserve of those working in the private sector (i.e. for developing plans for establishment of private practice clinics), rather than those working in other practice settings such as hospitals or community clinics, or in education. However the principles underpinning the development of business plans have relevance beyond cases of new business start up, including but not limited to, activities such as: starting a new service or facility within a hospital physiotherapy department, expanding a community-based service targeting women's health, organizing an annual professional or scientific conference for a society, branch or chapter, or planning the introduction of a new academic course offering. However, and despite the potential relevance of business planning skills to a wide range of activities within physiotherapy, these are not commonly covered in the curricula of pre-registration training for new professionals, and are generally only incorporated into continuing professional development activities for relevant specialist interest groups or chapters, i.e. private practitioner associations.