Service : Musculoskeletal Triage Assessment Service

Service overview

We’re the Musculoskeletal (MSK) Triage Assessment Service (TAS). We’re a team of experienced physiotherapists who triage referrals to ensure patients are receiving the right care at the right time.

We can help you with common conditions such as osteoarthritis, shoulder pain, back or neck pain and more.

Depending on the information provided to us, we may guide you directly to orthopaedics, chronic pain services or physiotherapy.

We’ll contact you via phone if we need more information.

Accessing our service

You need to referral by your GP or FCP. You must be at least 16 years old.

Your GP or FCP will fill out our referral form, and we’ll aim to review your referral within 5 days of receiving it. You will then be contacted by either a physiotherapist or administrator to inform you of the outcome of the triage decision.

We unfortunately can’t offer face-to-face sessions.

Preparing for an assessment

Your referral may be sent directly to another service. We may need to contact by phone for further information if this is not provided on your referral form.

You will receive a text message to inform you of the date of your phone appointment if this applies.

The phone call should take no more than 15 minutes. You should not need to prepare for your appointment, but information of any previous surgeries or any names of consultants who have helped you before would be useful.

If you’re unable to do a phone call, please contact us via our email address below and we will make alternative arrangements with you.

Managing your health

Your e-Health Passport

Your e-Health Passport lets us know what's important to you - from your preferred name and pronouns to how you'd like us to support you and communicate with you.

Learn more

Contact us and FAQs

St Mark's Hospital, Maidenhead

Musculoskeletal Triage Assessment Service (MSK TAS)

Contact number: 01753 635350 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays

Email: MSKtriageadmin@berkshire.nhs.uk

Post Address: SL6 6DU

Location details

Frequently asked questions

What are the wait times?

We aim to action all referrals within 5 days of receiving them. If you are passed to another service, we cannot guarantee their wait times unfortunately.

Will other services accept my referral?

There are times other services (such as orthopaedics) may reject your referral after we have sent it. This is often because you do not met their criteria and we will contact you to agree the next steps.

We can also help you with

Is there any information for friends, family and carers?

If you’re a family member/carer or you look after someone, there’s practical, financial, and emotional support available to you from a range of local communities and national organisations.

How do I request an interpreter?

We can provide language translation and interpretation support whenever you visit or contact us.

Tell our staff which language you prefer to use, and we will make sure the right communication support is in place for your assessment and treatment. Please let us know as early as possible so we can ensure the appropriate translation or interpreting support is available.

We offer a range of professional services to ensure everyone can understand and be understood:

telephone interpreting
video remote interpreting (VRI)
face‑to‑face interpreting
written translation
British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting

How can I get information in an accessible format?

Anyone with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss has the right to receive information in a format that meets their needs. Under the Accessible Information Standard (AIS)—a legal requirement for all health and adult social care providers—we must ensure that people who use our services, including carers and families, can understand the information we provide and communicate effectively with us.

We can offer information in a range of accessible formats, including:

British Sign Language (BSL)
large print
braille
audio
easy Read
email
text message
face‑to‑face support with a carer or advocate present

If you need information in any of these formats, please tell a member of our team and we will make sure your communication needs are met.

Are service dogs allowed to my appointment?

Yes. You are welcome to bring your registered service animal, such as a guide dog, hearing dog, medical alert dog, or other trained assistance dog to your appointment.

These animals are recognised as essential support and are permitted in most areas of our services.

To help us prepare, please let the team know before your appointment if you will be attending with a service animal. This allows us to make sure the environment is safe and comfortable for you, your animal, and other patients.

Please note that service animals may not be able to enter certain restricted clinical areas for safety or infection‑control reasons, but we will always work with you to find an appropriate alternative.

Treating our team with respect.

Respect is important.

We will be polite and kind and we expect that you treat our staff in the same way.

Abuse, hate and discrimination against our staff is unacceptable.

We will take strong action against anyone who is verbally, racially, physically, or sexually abusive to them.

This includes contacting the police to prosecute, and stopping future access to our healthcare services.