Steve McLaren

Community Orthopaedic and Stroke Specialist

Steve McLaren, Community Orthopaedic and Stroke Specialist

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy - University of East London
  • HCPC Registered (PH52681)
  • MCSP - Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
  • Nearly 30 years' experience, more than 20 in community rehabilitation

About Steve McLaren

Steve comes to you. He is a physiotherapist who visits people at home across Tyne and Wear, and most of the people he sees are older adults who want to stay steady, strong and independent in their own homes. That might be after a fall, after a spell in hospital, after a stroke, or simply because getting about has become harder than it used to be. There is no clinic to get to and no waiting room.

Visiting people at home is what he knows best. He has been a physiotherapist for nearly 30 years, and more than 20 of those have been spent in the community, treating people in their own houses. He knows how much of getting better depends on the things you only see at home: the stairs, the chair, the step at the back door, the walk to the toilet at night.

Today he works in the NHS in Newcastle. Part of his week is with a rapid response team that goes out to older people at home when something has gone wrong, to help them through it without a hospital stay. The rest is in the emergency department, spotting older people who could be looked after safely at home instead of being admitted. Before moving to the North East he worked in Leicester, London, Bristol and Gloucestershire, and in London he led the team that set up a new service to keep people out of hospital and get them home sooner.

Falls are his particular interest. He has run balance classes, including Tai Chi, and checked how well they worked. He also treats people with stroke, Parkinson's and other neurological conditions, and people recovering from a hip or knee replacement or a broken bone. He enjoys teaching, and regularly trains student physiotherapists.

Whatever brings you to him, the first step is a free phone call to talk it through. He will tell you honestly if physiotherapy is not the right answer.

Specialties

  • Falls prevention and balance
  • Getting back on your feet after an illness or a hospital stay
  • Frailty and loss of strength in older age
  • Stroke rehabilitation
  • Parkinson's and other neurological conditions
  • Recovery after hip and knee replacement
  • Recovery after a broken bone
  • Walking, stairs and getting in and out of a chair or bed
  • Long-term conditions, including arthritis and osteoporosis
  • Advice on walking aids and equipment at home

Service areas

He provides home physiotherapy visits across Tyne and Wear. He lives in North Shields, so North Shields, Tynemouth, Whitley Bay and the coast are on his doorstep, but he covers the whole county.

  • Tyne and Wear: North Shields, Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, Cullercoats, Monkseaton, Wallsend, Killingworth, Longbenton, Forest Hall, Shiremoor, Newcastle upon Tyne, Gosforth, Jesmond, Heaton, Newburn, South Shields, Jarrow, Hebburn, Boldon, Whitburn, Cleadon, Gateshead, Low Fell, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Birtley, Sunderland, Washington, Hetton-le-Hole and surrounding areas

View Tyne and Wear coverage

Training and registration

For anyone who would like the detail, his qualifications and career are:

  • BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy, University of East London, 1997
  • Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, number PH52681
  • Member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
  • Band 7 physiotherapist, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, since 2015, in community response and rehabilitation and in the emergency department
  • Band 6 physiotherapist, Gloucestershire community intermediate care and rehabilitation team, 2009 to 2015, treating complex neurological and orthopaedic conditions and training rehabilitation support workers
  • Band 6 physiotherapist, North Bristol NHS Trust intermediate care team, 2008 to 2009
  • Band 7 lead physiotherapist, Tower Hamlets intermediate care, London, 2003 to 2008
  • Senior physiotherapist in private musculoskeletal work in London, and in a private rehabilitation hospital in Sydney
  • Earlier posts in Leicester, including musculoskeletal work in a GP surgery and leading a hospital rehabilitation team
  • Recent training includes osteoporosis, dementia in the community, falls (East Midlands Falls Conference), orthopaedic gait analysis and moving and handling of bariatric patients
  • Regular supervisor of student and junior physiotherapists
  • Fully insured for home visits