Home Visit Physiotherapy in Durham
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Durham
The Caring Physio provides chartered, home-visit physiotherapy for older people across Durham and County Durham — from the city and Gilesgate, Neville’s Cross and Framwellgate Moor, out to Chester-le-Street, Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor and the surrounding towns. There’s no clinic to travel to, no waiting list and no referral needed: chartered physiotherapy comes to your door, in the comfort of your own home.
Whether you’re recovering from surgery, getting back on your feet after a fall, or living with dementia or a neurological condition, we treat you where you live — with the patience and respect we’d want for our own families.
Our home physio services in Durham include:
- Post-operative rehabilitation — back on your feet at home after surgery at the University Hospital of North Durham.
- Physiotherapy for dementia & older people — staying mobile, safe and
independent. - Neurological physiotherapy — stroke, Parkinson’s and MS rehabilitation at home.
- Muscle & joint pain — arthritis and persistent pain, treated at home.
- Respiratory physiotherapy — breathing support and recovery after a chest infection.
- Complex rehabilitation for case managers & insurers — coordinated home
rehabilitation after serious injury, trauma or surgery. - Live-in rehabilitation care — round-the-clock, therapy-led recovery at home.
This is why people decide to use our home visit physio service in Durham
With its iconic cathedral, historic streets, and close-knit communities, Durham is a wonderful place to live, and we are dedicated to helping its residents maintain their independence. Our home-visit physiotherapists provide evidence-based rehabilitation right across the city and the broader county. We travel directly to you—whether you are based centrally in Gilesgate, Neville’s Cross, or Framwellgate Moor, or in surrounding areas like Belmont, Newton Hall, Chester-le-Street, Bishop Auckland, and Spennymoor.
Why Durham and County Durham residents choose us:
100% home-based treatment — we come to your own house or care facility, meaning you never have to worry about travelling to a clinic.
A genuinely caring approach — our practice is built on the core values of compassion, integrity, and making your rehabilitation enjoyable.
Highly skilled professionals — you will always be treated by fully qualified and deeply experienced physiotherapists.
Seamless teamwork — we coordinate closely with your GP, specialist consultants, and care team to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Appointments that suit you — we offer flexible visiting times to fit your routine, including mornings, evenings, and weekends.
Take that vital first step toward regaining your confidence and independence today. Book a home-visit physiotherapy session in Durham or the surrounding county, and we will start with a comprehensive assessment to build a treatment plan entirely tailored to you.
Helping you get home from hospital
We support people coming home across Durham. The area’s main NHS acute hospital is the University Hospital of North Durham (County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust), and the same trust runs Bishop Auckland Hospital and the Chester-le-Street Community Hospital.
A spell on a ward often costs strength and confidence, so we move quickly: we can usually be at the door within a few days of discharge — including for people recovering at home after orthopaedic surgery such as a hip or knee replacement. Call us as soon as you have a discharge date and we’ll have a plan in place before your loved one is home.
Areas we cover in and around Durham
- Durham City
- Gilesgate
- Neville’s Cross
- Framwellgate Moor
- Belmont
- Newton Hall
- Chester-le-Street
- Bishop Auckland
- Spennymoor
- Bowburn
- Seaham
- Peterlee
Meet your Durham physio team
Helping you recover using physiotherapy in the comfort of your home
FAQ - Your local questions
Do you visit patients at home in Durham?
Yes — across Durham city, Chester-le-Street, Bishop Auckland and the surrounding areas, in your own home, with no travel to a clinic. Home is also the better place to do the work. We can see the stairs you actually climb, the chair you actually sit in and the step at your own front door, and build the rehabilitation around those rather than around a gym. The first visit is a thorough assessment that includes treatment as well, so you are not paying for an hour of questions. By the end of it we will tell you plainly what we think can improve and how we would go about it.
Can you help after surgery at the University Hospital of North Durham?
Yes. Post-operative rehabilitation at home is one of our core services, and we support people recovering after a hospital stay in County Durham, including at the University Hospital of North Durham. Coming home is when the real work starts: the house is less forgiving than a ward, and the exercises are easy to let slip once nobody is prompting them. We do them with you, progress them as you get stronger, and aim at the things you want back, whether that is the stairs, the garden or getting out to the shops. Ring us when you have a discharge date and we will plan the first visit around it.
Do I need a GP or hospital referral?
No referral is needed. Contact us directly — many people ring for themselves, and just as many calls come from a son or daughter who has noticed a parent becoming less steady. We aim to visit as soon as we can, usually within one to five days of your first call, including in the first days after a hospital discharge. We have no waiting list of our own, and if you are already waiting for NHS physiotherapy we can start in the meantime and work alongside it. With your permission we will let your GP know what we find and what we are working on.
Do you provide physiotherapy for people living with dementia?
Yes — dementia care is a particular specialism. We help people stay mobile, reduce falls and maintain independence, and we support the whole family. Someone with dementia may not remember an exercise sheet, but the body remembers familiar movements, so we practise real tasks in familiar rooms: getting up from the usual chair, walking to the kitchen, managing the step outside. We come at the time of day when the person is at their brightest, keep the same physiotherapist wherever we can so a face becomes familiar, and show relatives and carers the two or three things that will make the most difference between our visits.
Do you provide palliative physiotherapy for people at the end of their lives in Durham?
Yes. Michelle has extensive experience working in community palliative care physiotherapy teams. We provide gentle, home-based support to help people remain comfortable, manage symptoms and maintain dignity. At this stage physiotherapy is about what matters to the person today: being able to sit comfortably, to move in bed with less effort, to get to the garden or the table while that is still wanted. We show families how to help with moving and positioning safely, and we work around the district nurses and hospice team rather than across them. We visit families across Durham, Chester-le-Street and the wider County Durham area during this sensitive time.
Do you offer specialist neurological physiotherapy in Durham and Chester-le-Street?
Yes, we provide neurological rehabilitation in your own home. Paula, our specialist neuro physiotherapist for County Durham, leads this service. She brings deep experience in complex stroke, Parkinson’s, and MS recovery, alongside advanced training in the Bobath concept and functional electrical stimulation (FES), so you receive highly specialised care without needing to travel to a clinic. Neurological recovery rarely follows a neat timetable, and gains can continue long after a formal programme has ended. Paula will assess where things stand now, agree goals that matter to you, and say honestly what she expects to change and what may not.
My mother has carers in three times a day and is still losing ground. Why would that be?
Because something specific is usually driving it, and three calls a day will not find what that is. It might be pain that nobody has got on top of, so she moves less to avoid it. It might be a medication affecting her balance. It might be that since a fall she has quietly stopped going upstairs. Each of those has a different answer, and none of them is solved by more care. The first thing we do is work out which it is, and say plainly whether it is something physiotherapy can change.
We’re proud to provide home-visit physiotherapy for older people right across Durham and County Durham. As well as the city itself, our chartered physiotherapists visit families in Chester-le-Street, Bishop Auckland, and Spennymoor, and we also cover Gilesgate, Neville’s Cross, Framwellgate Moor, Belmont, Newton Hall, Bowburn, Seaham, and Peterlee. Not sure if we reach you? See all the areas we cover.