A PROFESSIONAL BODY

certain standard of competence. A core curriculum was estab- lished to aid sports massage training organisations. This covers the minimum requirements that must be taught by any establish- ment wishing to be an approved provider of the level of sports massage education required for its graduates to become members of SMA. There are also required hours of teaching and practical contact, as well as the need for external validation and examina- tion. The schools may choose to teach subjects not on the core curriculum but these will not be considered by SMA or included in the graduate’s insurance cover from SMA unless they are judged to be a suitable topic. A core curriculum will continually develop to include new content or update existing based on policy and research.

Communication A professional body should also support and promote its members, making communication, publicity and recognition a major part of its remit. The SMA has to ensure regular contact with its members, sporting bodies and the wider public. The greater the membership, the more far reaching the involvement in sport at all levels. Last year the SMA established a website on which members of the pub- lic can search for SMA registered sports massage practitioners through the National Register for Sports Massage Practitioners. Practitioners are able to enter multiple clinic/work place details which the public can search on using postcodes or other geo- graphical regions. The SMA also sends regular e-mail information to members including information about jobs and opportunities with clubs, national teams, sports institutes and multi sport events like the Olympics. The SMA recently organised the recruit- ment of an accredited sports massage practitioner to work with the British Paralympic Association medical team in preparation for the 2004 Athens Paralympics. Over the past year, the SMA has continued raising awareness of itself and its members among National Governing Bodies of sport and increasing numbers now stipulate that job applicants must be a member of the SMA, as this is one of the best ways that they can be confident that appli- cants have adequate insurance and meet suitable standards in practice.

Last September the SMA held its first annual conference in asso- ciation with sportEX, giving members the opportunity to network, learn new skills and seek the advice of peers. This is to be repeat- ed this year. In a profession where many members work in isola- tion from fellow practitioners, coordinating events and meetings is an important role for the professional body.

Regulation Ideally a professional body would be seeking and maintaining reg- ulatory recognition of their profession, and the setting up by the Department of Health of the Health Professions Council (HPC) pro- vides the SMA with the opportunity to achieve this. The HPC is a new independent UK-wide regulatory body responsible for setting and maintaining standards of professional training, performance and conduct of the healthcare professions that it regulates. The SMA is in the process of applying to HPC on behalf of the profes- sion to enable sports massage to become one of the professions it regulates. One of the roles HPC performs is the protection of titles to ensure safe treatment for the public. So just as the title ‘physiotherapist’ can only be used by registered professionals, the SMA application will seek protection of the title ‘sports massage

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practitioner’ with ‘sports masseur’ and ‘sports masseuse’ for HPC registered practitioners. The procedure to gain registration on behalf of Sports Massage is a complicated and drawn out proce- dure, but this is and will continue to be a major focus of the SMA until there is a successful outcome.

In some instances the role of the HPC and the professional bodies can seem to overlap. In essence, the HPC is acting as the regulator who provides the same service to many professions. Their main aim is the protection of the public who seek treatment in one of the healthcare professions they regulate, through agreed education and practice standards. Although protection of the public is part of the role of the professional body and is inherent in everything it does (by setting and maintaining standards of education, training and practice) it also supports and promotes its members in other areas discussed in this article.

CPD It is incumbent on most professional bodies to provide confidence that its members are suitably trained to provide a quality service. The first step is to achieve the standard of qualification recog- nised by the SMA. That member is then permitted to use the ini- tials MSMA (Member of the Sports Massage Association) so that with time members of the public will recognise this as being the benchmark for the best provision of sports massage, just as the initials of MCSP for Chartered Physiotherapists is widely acknowl- edged. The continuing professional development of members is then fundamental to ensure they keep up-to-date with new tech- niques and practices. SMA members are required to maintain a continuing professional development portfolio which must contain 40 hours CPD per year or 80 hours over two years. This ensures that all members are up to date and aware of best practice.

WHAT ELSE? So what more can be expected from a professional body? Basically the professional body is the front-of-house face of the profession and as such should represent the members and participate in all matters concerned with the practice of its members.

Standards of education, provision of continuing professional development, responding to any press or media activity, listing jobs and opportunities and representing the members on all appropriate associated bodies are all part and parcel of the work of a professional body.

Obviously the more the profession grows and the more members who join, the greater the scope of work carried out by the pro- fessional body. It will be interesting to see how SMA grows and there are still many areas to be catered for as it develops. An active membership is the most valuable and useful part of any organisation. With more members becoming involved and playing an active part in their own professional body, the SMA faces a bright future.

THE AUTHOR ■ Joan Watt is a Chartered Physiotherapist and Sports Massage Practitioner and chair of the Sports Massage Association. She has published and lectured extensively on sports massage and is also a mentor to Sports Massage Practitioners used in the UK Sports Institutes.

www.sportex.net