NEWS REPS Update

I took up post slightly less than 12 short months ago and since then we have been working really hard at REPs to move the Register into the next phase of its life. We knuckled down and started with your views on the Register and the service it provides. A survey was completed by over 1600 of you and the results informed our new three year business plan. But that wasn’t all…

New and improved As well as this fantastic new-look journal, we’ve re-launched our website, designed a new logo and negotiated an improved insurance scheme, soon to go live. We’ve been working with SkillsActive as they carried out the largest ever consultation and review of National Occupational Standards, reviewed CPD points and a new REPs entry structure. We’ve introduced five new members to the REPs Council as well as inviting two of them to sit on our Board of Governors.

Helena Phlippou, Ben Jones, Debbie Lawrence, Mairi Glynn and Angie Newson join Taff O’Donoghue, Gary Cole, Mada Jooste, Ali Carrington, Paul Whapham, Belinda Buttery, Marlon Wasnieswki, Liz Fowler and Douglas Alexander to meet regularly to represent the members on the direction of the Register.

Our Council of Members is a great representation of the Register as a whole and all are totally committed to the industry and its development. We also hope to use their expertise here in the Journal – watch out for them in future issues.

Out and about We’ve also travelled throughout the UK, meeting many of you at our conventions (don’t forget to join us at LIW next month – it’s looking to be our biggest and best convention yet!) as well as consultation

06 6 from Jean-Ann Marnoch REPs Registrar

events on the new REPs entry structure and supporting National Occupational Standards.

With membership levels topping 28,000, we’ve had to revise the way we handle every aspect of our administration, from enquiries to re-registrations, to make REPs an efficient and professional organisation. We’ve published a customer service statement with improved registration times; we hope you’ve noticed an improvement – certainly feedback so far has been very good.

Looking ahead As well as a new level 4 award in stroke rehabilitation being approved, SkillsActive is currently developing new National Occupational Standards at level 4 in the areas of cancer and exercise, and respiratory disease. Once the standards are finalised these important medical areas will be added to the list of level 4 REPs categories and training courses can be developed to allow exercise professionals to qualify in these areas.

REPs is represented on the FIA’s Exercise Referral Steering and Project group with the aim of building bridges and trust between our industry and the medical profession.

One of my first official events as Registrar was speaking at LIW September 2008, about professionalising the industry and I hope you will agree that real progress has been made this year towards that overall goal. We still have a long way to go, and a lot of people including many healthcare professionals to convince, but the work you are doing, the efforts of organisations

like SkillsActive and the determination of the industry as a whole, will surely achieve this.

Public awareness Public awareness is the next goal and together I know we can make a big impact here. We hope that you will wear your new

badge when you are teaching. One of our strategies to improve awareness is to support you to promote yourself as a ‘Registered Exercise Professional’. As well as marketing materials that you can customise, we also intend to create REPs branded flyers, referral cards and posters which can be downloaded, bespoked and printed using your own printer or through the REPs print house.

The new website is much more public focused and we hope that this new journal will also evolve into an increasingly useful resource for you and your clients. We all want more people, more active, more often, and I want you, as a professional who cares about this industry, to see real benefits from your registration with us.

As always change is slower than I’d like, and as a teacher and trainer for 26 years, I understand the challenges we all face. I hope you’ll agree that this journal is an excellent start to improving our service to you; it’s just one of the ways that we intend to raise our profile in and outside the industry. Feel free to let us know what you think of the changes and how else we can help promote more REPs awareness.

The REPs Journal 2009;14(Sept):06-07 The REPS Journal 2009;14(Sept):00-00