Physiotherapists are now working on the front line in the accident and emergency department at Burton's Queen's Hospital in a bid to help more patients as treatment continues to evolve.

They can see people with minor injuries or ones in their specialist field, as well as taking X-rays of patients injuries, which means patients are spending less time in A&E as they are being seen faster, cutting waiting times.

The team knows that living with constant pain or the aftermath of an injury is a daily battle for some people but there is treatment out there and this does not necessarily involve surgery.

Advances in technology means there are always new ways to help people overcome the problems and more research is suggesting the surgery may not be the answer.

Here consultant physiotherapist Emma Salt explains more about her role.

Dr Emma Salt is a consultant physiotherapist at Burton's Queen's Hospita

Dealing with constant pain is a challenge for anyone but physiotherapy is one way to help the body heal and with experts on hand it can make a difference to those in need.

For consultant physiotherapist Emma Salt, she is always looking at new ways in which physiotherapy can help - splitting her days between being a clinical expert, working on strategies with the clinical commissioning group, educating physiotherapists to become a highly senior member of the team and looking into research and developments to move forward.

Dr Salt, who works with a team of around 18 staff in the department at Burton's Queen's Hospital, specialises in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, which is the top part of the body around the shoulders and deals with patients with more complex conditions.

Her clinical and research areas of interest are in the management of persistent shoulder pain and the differentiating cervical spine from shoulder pathology.

Physiotherapists M Hawkins and Craig Sinclaire hard at work

She said: "I treat people who have had the problem for a long time and have tried elsewhere but it is not working. They may benefit from surgery but cannot have it for a variety of reasons. These are people who are not just going to get better over time and they have tried everything else. The options are very limited to them."

Dr Salt, who has now qualified as an independent prescriber, will look at all the other options available to help the patients, which can include investigative MRI scans and X-rays to offer an insight in to what is going on inside the patient.

One way Dr Salt has been looking to help people is through suprascapular nerve blocks for the management of shoulder pain. This blocks out the pain which can often hinder physiotherapy and allows the patient to make progress as they are not fighting through the agony to do it.

She evaluated the use of this while completing a post doctorate internship at Keele University.

Patient Stephan Chell with consultant physiotherapist Emma Salt

The 46-year-old, from Melbourne, in South Derbyshire, said: "In a lot of research there is less evidence to support surgery. A lot of the time if we can break away from the pain and get some decent rehabilitation then for the majority of people it can turn them around.

"We have had some really good results from this as it blocks out the pain which can inhibit their progress. The block then gets absorbed into the system."

The team can see patients for a variety of reasons - from pain from doing too little to too much, injury from an accident, arthritis and sometimes they get a problem for no reason at all.

As part of her role at the hospital, she has introduced a fellowship after finding they were having recruitment issues when it came to new senior physiotherapists joining the team. Then came the idea of the fellowship to give senior physiotherapists the training they need to become highly trained.

They shadow one of the physiotherapists, like Dr Salt, to learn new skills and then when they are ready they will hold clinics of their own but still with the support of the team.

This gives them the tools they need to see if it is a field they want to work in and to prepare them to be able to do the job. The physiotherapists need to feel comfortable that they have have reached certain standards before they hold clinics on their own.

The physiotheraphy team at Burton's Queen's Hospital

During her time at the hospital she has worked with different teams to help patients get the best care possible. Traditionally the A&E department has consisted of doctors and nurses, but now Dr Salt and her team has joined them after it was discovered there was scope for them to be down there.

They can see people with minor injuries or ones in their specialist field, as well as taking X-rays. This has been found to bring the re-admission target down for the hospital. It was already below the national target of five per cent but now it has gone lower.

Mother-of-one Dr Salt, who has worked at the Belvedere Road hospital for around 17 years, said: "We are constantly looking at ways to expand out of the more traditional roles but always making sure that we do it safely and with the evidence so it is an advantage to the patient. If it is more cost effective then it is helping the taxpayer as well."

Dr Salt originally qualified as a chartered physiotherapist in 1993, before gaining a MSc (Master of Science) in musculoskeletal physiotherapy in 2000 at the University College of London and a PhD in 2014 from the University of Birmingham.

She said: "I did not want to be a doctor but I did want to do something that makes a difference. I am a people person and want to work with people as they are interesting.

"I needed something to keep me driven all the time that is always changing. I always want to expand on what I do rather than be happy doing the same thing and not moving forward. My job is about taking the rest of my team with me and giving people the opportunity to be part of that team.

Senior physiotherapist Amy Evans and clinical specialist Ben Jeeves with patient Rowen Powell

"With this role you can make quite a big difference quite quickly and it is constantly positive. I can't always help people but I will try and if I can't I will help people move on to appropriate teams."

Before setting up home in Burton, Dr Salt moved around with her work including traveling around for 15 months in Sydney and working in New Zealand. She also gets to attend conferences across the world talking about what she does and where her research has taken her.

She is now a member of the fellowship at NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) which means she is now an ambassador for Burton hospital on a national level.

Dr Salt said: "We are a very supportive team here at Burton but we also do have fun as well. It is important that people see that just because you are small does not mean you can't be fantastic.

"I would say to anyone thinking about going in to physiotherapy to do it, definitely. It is the best thing you will ever do. You spend so much of your life at work that you have got to have a job you enjoy or it is a waste of a life."

Appointments at the physiotherapy ward at Burton's Queen's Hospital are available until 7pm.