To apply to access our treatment programmes you must either be serving police workforce (police officer or police staff), or a retired officer and must be donating to the Charity.
The serving police workforce must be employed by the following: BTP, Cheshire Constabulary, CNC, Cleveland Police, Cumbria Constabulary, Derbyshire Constabulary, Durham Constabulary, GMP, Humberside Police, Immigration Enforcement, IOM Constabulary, Lancashire Constabulary, Lincolnshire Police, Merseyside Police, Merseyside Ports, Merseyside Tunnels, MDP, NCA, Northamptonshire Police, Northumbria Police, North Wales Police, North Yorkshire Police, Police Scotland, PSNI, SPA, South Yorkshire Police, Staffordshire Police, West Midlands Police or West Yorkshire Police.
Retired officers must have spent the majority of their police service in one of The Police Treatment Centres constituent forces (as listed above), or since retiring have relocated to one of The Police Treatment Centres constituent force areas.
The Charity’s provision is intended to be by way of short intensive treatment with the aim of helping the individual to make progress in resolving, or alleviating a treatable condition. Applications for admission must be supported by evidence of a clinical need that can be addressed by the Clinical Teams at the PTCs with an achievable positive, measurable clinical outcome.
To read our full eligibility and clinical criteria, click here.
The Trustees of the Police Treatment Centres have agreed that Officers who have opted for the 30-plus scheme then remain as Serving Police Officers holding ‘the Office of Constable’, must continue to regularly donate to the Charity at the Serving Officer rate to retain eligibility for free treatment.
Yes, you can either decide to sign up as a retired officer and benefit from our one week retired officer programmes. Or you can decide to sign up as a serving police staff member and benefit from our serving workforce programmes. Remember, you are not eligible as retired police staff for the PTC, and upon retirement would need to sign up as a retired officer.
If you spent the majority of your Police Service in one of the PTC constituent forces, or since retiring have relocated to a PTC constituent Force, you are eligible to become a PTC donor and beneficiary. You can access our class leading residential Physiotherapy, Online Physiotherapy Outpatient services and our Retired Officer Wellbeing Programme.
When you leave a force your donations to the PTC will cease and will not automatically restart when you join a new force. If your new force is one of the PTC constituent forces, you must complete a new sign up form to commence your donations. You can also donate if you have moved from a Flint House Force to a PTC Force. If you have a lapse in payments between forces, then you must donate for the qualifying 12 month period before you are eligible to apply to attend the Centres.
Retired Officers are eligible for a one-week residential physiotherapy at either one of our Centres. Retired Officers are also eligible to access our Online Physiotherapy Service. We also have our Retired Officer Wellbeing Programme, a one-week programme designed specifically for those who have retired from the Police Family and have a formal diagnosis of mild to moderate anxiety and depression.
Serving Police Staff are eligible to the same services as our serving police officers. This includes; our two week residential physiotherapy programme, two week residential psychological wellbeing programme and our online services including physiotherapy, women’s health and JRFT support.
No, you do not need to have a clinical diagnosis to attend our menopause sessions.
You must be donating for 12 months before you can apply for treatment on one of our residential, outpatient or online programmes.
Student officers who sign up within the first three months of joining the force, receive their first 12 months of contributions for free.
Retired officers who have donated 12 months prior to their retirement and make continuous payments as soon as they retire are not subject to a 12 month qualifying period.
Applications for further admission for physiotherapy should not normally be made until at least 12 months have elapsed since a previous admission. For our PWP this period is at least 24 months.
However, there may be exceptions, for example, if a PTC clinical assessment at the conclusion of your previous admission recommends an earlier admission; or if there is a significant change in the current condition/circumstances which merits an earlier admission; or a new circumstance or condition has arisen that would prompt the consideration of an earlier admission. Clear medical evidence of such a change in circumstance must be provided.
To read our full clinical admissions policy, click here.
We can treat a large range of injuries. In the case of less serious conditions, we often find Patients attending for physiotherapy do so quite late on in their recovery whereas in fact, early intervention can often bring about far more significant results. If your condition is affecting your ability to perform the activities of daily living, or your job to the full, then you should consider applying for treatment.
For the PWP, every application must be accompanied by two psychometric measures and every application will receive a pre-admission phone call from the Nursing team so they may assess the needs of each individual and determine if the programme is appropriate at that time. Our Clinical team will support a Patient by signposting to additional support if the timing of the application is not appropriate.
The Retired Officer Wellbeing Programme is a one-week programme designed specifically for those who have retired from the Police Family and have a formal diagnosis of mild to moderate anxiety and depression.
In order to retain eligibility into your retirement, you must make a donation of at least £5.99 per month to the PTC. These donations will NOT automatically continue into your retirement if you have been donating as a Serving Officer. You must set up a direct debit (click here). If you make continuous payments from your service into your retirement, you will be eligible for free treatment straight away. If you have a break in payments between your service into retirement, once you start donations in your retirement you will need to be donating for at least 12 months before you can access free treatment.
No, treatment is provided for injuries, illnesses or conditions sustained on or off duty.
Treatment is only provided free-of-charge to those police family donors who support the Charity by making a weekly/monthly donation. To ensure this policy is applied fairly and consistently, we ask for proof that an Officer is making this payroll donation when processing his/her application form.
The Police Treatment Centres provides treatment for treatable conditions where there is a clinical need. Therefore, we require clinical signatures for all of our residential treatment programmes. For residential physiotherapy we do accept GP Health Records, if they pertain to the reason for attendance.
No, all of our online programmes are self-referral and you are not required to have the application form signed by a clinician.
Our virtual physiotherapy service is flexible and our physiotherapists are available:
In response to feedback that some GPs are charging Patients to have their application forms signed, the PTC have produced a supporting letter to accompany your application, please click here. For our residential physiotherapy programme, we also accept GP Health Records which can be requested through your GP surgery receptionist.
To get the maximum benefit from the treatment programmes, Officers would generally be expected to stay at the Centres for the duration of their treatment. There are cottages available for use by families and these are available for periods of one week. If you wish to apply for the cottage, please complete and submit an inpatient application form along with a companion’s form.
In some circumstances, provision for non-residential treatment as a day patient may also be considered. This will depend upon the proximity of your home address, or temporary residence, and travel time to and from treatment.
Every application for admission as a day patient will be considered on its individual merits.
The application form allows you to express a preference to attend either St Andrews or Castlebrae; or either Centre. However, allocation will depend upon a number of factors for example: capacity at each Centre and the urgency for treatment.
Be referencing “Either” you may be allocated admission for treatment sooner than if you expressed a preference solely for a specific Centre.
Sympathetic consideration will be given to an expressed preference and where possible we will meet the request.
You can normally expect to hear from us within ten working days from the time that we receive your application. The time it takes to allocate a date for treatment will depend on the quality and detail of information on the application form which enables our staff to make a clinical assessment of the individual’s needs. If insufficient information is provided then further information may have to be sought from you and this could delay an admission decision.
Waiting time for admission can depend on how quickly your force forwards your application to us (Serving Workforce) and will also vary according to demand through the year. However we will assess each application individually and will prioritise urgent cases wherever possible. Normally, admission is within two to six weeks unless clinical circumstances mean the optimum period for admission is later than this e.g. for physiotherapy following some surgical procedures or at the conclusion of other interventions for those accessing the PWP.
This will vary according to the exact nature of the surgery i.e. after joint replacement, it is best to wait until your stitches are removed and the wound is healed at around three weeks. After ACL reconstruction, a six-week period post-operative is recommended to allow for the knee joint to settle down. Please contact the Physiotherapy department if you require further guidance.
We do not accept applications for both programmes to be attended at the same time. This is because both programmes have now developed and are ultimately more holistic, but more importantly we have found that its is too much and overwhelming for the patient. Patients will be triaged to establish which programme is likely to be most beneficial for them – once here the other programme will be discussed as necessary at that point.
The admission process is administered from St Andrews in Harrogate. Please call 01423 504 448 or email enquiries@thepolicetreatmentcentres.org for assistance if you can’t find the answer to your query on this site.
The Centres are open on Bank Holidays with services provided as normal. In fact, the only time our Centres close is for a period of two weeks over Christmas.
Patients attending for physiotherapy are asked to arrive in the morning to enable them to have sufficient time to see their Physiotherapist. While treatments may commence from 09:30, please note that bedrooms may not be ready for occupation before 12:00.
In short, after certain operations a surgeon may stipulate the aftercare that he/she would like the Patient to have. This only occurs after some operations and not all surgeons set such a protocol. So if you haven’t got such a document, the chances are you don’t need one.
A Sunday arrival prior to a period of admission, will only be offered to a Serving Officer where their ‘significant and unique’ personal or travel circumstances merit consideration of such.
We normally admit Retired Officers for a week commencing on a Sunday (after 14:30). Retired Officers are asked to depart their room by 10:30 on the following Sunday, although lunch may be provided on request before a later departure from the Centre. This arrangement allows Retired Officers to receive maximum benefit and help with their travel and support arrangements.
The feedback is assessed on a monthly basis and used to help promote the benefits of joining to non-donating Officers. We also use feedback to help us address areas of concern and suggestions for improvement therefore always listening and reacting to Patient needs.
We want to ensure Patients are well enough to participate fully in the activities available so the best advice is to call and speak to the duty Nurse about your symptoms. It may be possible to delay your arrival or re-book. In the case of diarrhoea and sickness, it is important Patients have been symptom-free for 48 hours before attending to prevent the potential spread of such conditions.
With your joining instructions, you will receive a patient information sheet outlining what is provided at the Centre (i.e. towels) and what is not (i.e. hairdryers).
We are unable to accommodate dogs at present (the only exceptions are registered support dogs), however we have kennels local to both Centres that are happy to board your pet and give you access to walk/see them. Please ring the Centre Reception for more details. Please note, the PTC accepts no responsibility or liability for any service provided as an arrangement between the Officer and kennel.
Burrell dog grooming is run by our much loved therapy dog affiliate Anne Burrell and her daughter Cathy who would be more than happy to accomodate any officer seeking to find kennels during their stay at St Andrews in Harrogate.
For more information call Cathy Burrell on 07912448732 or email info@burrelldoggrooming.co.uk.
Demand on the Centres means it is not possible to cater for visitors but they are welcome to enjoy a hot or cold drink in one of our lounges on arrival and before they set off on their journey. Partners and carers can only stay at the Centres under certain specific circumstances and with prior agreement i.e. as a “companion” when providing hands-on care and support for a Patient.
All bed linen, towels and tea towels are provided, as are washing facilities. A starter pack with tea bags, milk, bread etc is also provided.
The dress code is casual/sportswear in line with the activities Patients undertake during their stay. Warm clothing to wear between exercise activities is advisable, especially in colder weather.
Whether you have an allergy or intolerance, are trying to lose weight, or simply don’t like certain foods, our Catering team can help. You can ask to speak to a chef before your stay or on your first day and they will be happy to work out a suitable menu for you. Half portions and healthier options are also available.
The application form allows you to state any allergies, intolerances or special needs.
As well as the leisure facilities that are available, each week we encourage Patients to organise themselves into a Social and Fundraising committee, holding events such as quiz nights. Not only are these a good way of getting to know one another, they also help to raise a significant amount of money to support the Charity. There are a number of television lounges and wi-fi access is available (for a small charge). For those seeking quiet time without televisions there are is a library and other quiet areas.
Our physiotherapy programme for the serving police workforce is flexible and can be provided as a one, two or split two-week residential programme, dependent on which will achieve maximum benefit.
Our physiotherapy programme for retired police officers is a one-week residential programme (Sunday to Sunday).
Our psychological wellbeing programme for the serving police workforce is a residential two-week programme.
Our retired officer psychological wellbeing programme is a residential one week stay (Monday to Sunday).
Both centres also have self-catering cottages available on a first come, first served basis.
