FIA UPDATE
NEWS engaging the medical sector
Dr John Searle OBE, the FIA’s chief medical officer, looks at what the fitness industry must do to engage with the medical profession, and outlines the progress made to date
sector and the medical profession. I already knew that exercise was an effective method of both preventing and treating disease and should be delivered to patients. However, I also knew that the medical community – whose support is crucial – would require some convincing. This is why my colleagues at the FIA
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and I set out to engage with the upper reaches of the medical profession. Almost two years later, I’m happy to say we’ve made progress and are soon to produce several pieces of work outlining the role of exercise in primary care.
The FIA Research Institute will evaluate our sector’s role as a public health tool
joint consultative forum It has not been an easy process. Along the way, I’ve learnt that above all else our sector requires a strong evidence base capable of demonstrating the importance of exercise to over 40,000 GPs across the UK. We also require an open forum to discuss a range of issues with the medical profession. For these reasons we established
several initiatives. Firstly, after year-long negotiations with the medical community, we established an independent body – the Joint Consultative Forum, between the medical profession and fi tness sector. The forum includes the Faculty of Public Health, the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine, the Royal Colleges of General Practitioners, Physicians and Psychiatrists, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and the Register of Exercise Professionals. It also includes a range of fi tness sector
representatives, from training providers to the ‘one man band’ fi tness instructor. The forum has met several times to discuss everything from the qualifi cations and training of our professionals, to engagement with NICE and the commissioning of exercise by GPs. It is currently producing new professional
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and operational standards for exercise referral, which will state the minimum standard for the delivery of exercise referral (see also HCM April 11, p52).
physiotherapy referral We’ve also established a Joint Working Party with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, and after a year of working together we have launched new guidance for the referral of patients between physiotherapists and fitness instructors. This marks an important step for
our industry. Ever since I trained as a fi tness professional, it has been clear to me that there is an obvious overlap between the two professions. Traditionally, physiotherapists have worked predominantly in functional rehab in the health sector, while fi tness instructors have worked with healthy clients. However, over the last 15 years, roles have evolved. Fitness instructors work increasingly with patients with medical conditions and in rehab, while physiotherapy services are increasingly delivered in primary care, non-health settings and in the fi elds of prevention and health promotion. The referral
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guidelines solve this confusion and move us one step closer to ensuring that patients are referred into exercise after their traditional care pathway.
new research institute The final initiative focuses more on measuring and evaluating our impact in the prevention and management of disease. We are soon to launch the FIA Research Institute with the University of Greenwich, which will evaluate our sector’s delivery of structured exercise programmes as a public health tool. For too long we have known that
there is a huge evidence base for exercise in dozens of peer-reviewed journals. However, while there is good evidence that exercise is effective in specifi c diseases, there is little evidence that exercise referral schemes to date have increased the activity levels of patients. The Research Institute will change this by demonstrating the effectiveness of exercise in delivering health outcomes, and our sector’s ability to play a role in the service of public health. It’s something we urge you to get behind. Exercise is a medicine. We must increase the dosage!
june 2011 © cybertrek 2011
took on the role of FIA chief medical officer in the summer of 2009 with a clear aim in mind: to bridge the gap between the fitness
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