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Purpose: This article discusses how employed and private physiotherapists describe and reason about prioritization and division of responsibilities. The objective of the study has been to obtain knowledge about content and ponderations in physiotherapy services, and whether professional practice and development is in line with current political regulations. Method: The study is based on five focus group interviews with physiotherapists (n=21). Findings: Participants perceived the municipalities’ resources for physiotherapy as too small, and expressed that they had to carry out demanding prioritizations with limited support from the local authorities. Patients that needed home consultations were in danger of not getting physiotherapy due to long travelling distances. Traditional differences between private physiotherapists and physiotherapists employed by the municipality, characterized prioritization and division of patient groups and work tasks. The differences were less apparent in municipalities with fewer physiotherapists, where the range of tasks was broader. Employed physiotherapists were given new tasks without an increase of capacity in the municipalities’ physiotherapy services, and spread their resources on more patients than professionally desirable. Conclusion: Limited service capacity, variations in physiotherapists’ kind of attachment (private or employed) and prioritizations, plus long distances, brings differences in physiotherapy services dependent on place of residence. This stresses the importance of local authorities attending to their managerial responsibilities for physiotherapy services.

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