P-wave phaseshifts for positron-hydrogen elastic scattering are calculated using a new adiabatic approximation in which the length of the radius vector from the proton to the positron is fixed but its direction is allowed to vary. This adiabatic approximation makes possible the full inclusion in the calculation of virtual states in which angular momentum is transferred to the target H atom. The results obtained agree qualitatively with the highly accurate results of Bhatia and co-workers (1974) and are much closer to them than the results obtained using the usual adiabatic approximation in which the radius vector from the proton to the positron is fixed.