CSP Boosts Membership Services

Because the needs of the profession are changing so fast, the Society's services are also going through a period of rapid development. This year has seen and will continue to see exciting new services available to members. If you aren't sure what your Society does for you, read on. The following represent some of the new things that are happening at the CSP.

Information Resource Centre The new Information Resource Centre has just been

opened t o help members undertaking any sort of research; and that means a large number of people. The Centre is able to help you with literature searches, information retrieval, and direct you to other special information sources; in-house, on-line links with biomedical and other relevant databases are being set up and databases of physiotherapy research and documentation are being developed. There is a wide range of relevant journals in the Centre, which is open t o all members.

PACE The new post-registration education system is now weli

under way but still being developed. Physiotherapy Access to Continuing Education (PACE) marks a major step in the educational development of physiotherapy, providing as ir does a structured approach t o members' professiona

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development. It will raise the status of post-registration education, tie it in firmly wi th higher education, and lead to the growth of higher degrees in physiotherapy in due course.

New Discounts on Financial Services Through the offices of Frizzells, the Society's long-

standing insurance brokers, we are able t o offer members new financial benefits of CSP membership. To be launched in September, considerable discounts will be available to members on financial services such as motor insurance. While Frizzells has provided an excellent service for many years, the new discounts will mean real financial savings for members. Read all about them in the September Journal.

New Professional Database Work has started on a new professional database to enable

members both to provide and retrieve information. The Society is aware that there is a huge amount of information on professional issues, such as the experts in a particular technique, good speakers for Branch meetings on a variety of subjects, and listings of rehabilitation and other specialist units, but that this and a great deal more have never been pulled together. Once this has been done - and it will take many months - this should be a very useful resource for members which will be available from the Professional Affairs Department.

Training

1992 Annual Subscriptions Due for payment on November 1, 1991

Category Description f

B Full practising member 95 D Non-practising member

(without Journal) 22 E Permanently retired

member 18 0 Member practising

overseas (no PLI) 70 R Non-practising

member 55

Category B subscriptions only may be paid by 12 monthly instalments of €8.40 provided: (a) You notify us of your wish to use this facility not later than November 8, 1991. (b) You pay by Direct Debit with the first instalment paid on November 1, 1991, and the following 11 instalments at monthly intervals on the first of each month thereafter. (c) If for any reason a member fails to pay two or more consecutive instalments he or she will be ineligible for the benefits of membership (eg professional liability insurance (PLI) cover, Journal, Branch membership, etc) with effect from the first day of the third month of non-payment.

From the January 1992 issue a subscription to the Journal will cost €45 a year, or €22.50 for six months.

458 Physiotherapy, July 1991, vol 77, no 7 -

To help members face the challenge of the NHS changes, the Society is providing a varied programme of workshops and conferences. These are designed to impart knowledge and provide the management and personal skills increasingly required in the new NHS. Following sessions on business skills, marketing, contracts, staffing levels, employment issues, and legal aspects, there are others planned for the second half of this year on Trusts, standards, audit, presentation skills, employment, assertiveness, and public relations skills. In addition to the NHS-oriented events, there are others on disability, research, wheelchairs, repetitive strain injury, and community care.

A More Easily Accessible Industrial Relations Service Rising membership numbers and NHS changes have

meant the Society has hzd to strengthen its industrial relations support service. This year has seen an additional officer based in Scotland who also covers northern England (Joyce Davison); an officer based mainly in the north-west (Julie Smallwood); and an extra officer responsible for Trusts and local bargaining (Gary Kirwan). The department will be preparing appropriate briefing materials for local bargaining.

An Even Better Journal The recently appointed scientific editor (Dr Anne Parry,

senior lecturer in the division of health sciences, Sheffield City Polytechnic) should be taking up her post next month.

The object of introducing this new position is to provide more support for members wr i t ing for t he Journal, and thus provide readers with better professional articles. A redesign is also being undertaken fol lowing a market research exercise and it is hoped tha t members will notice the difference and like w h a t they see when the 'new look' is implemented.

Constant Scrutiny The items o n the previous page represent some of t he

main changes that are taking place in your organisation this year. In addition, of course, t he everyday business o f providing a quality service t o members goes on: t he professional and industrial relations advice; t he work o f promoting the profession; and the administrative task o f running the Society. The Society's services are under constant scrutiny because the CSP's funct ion is t o serve members' professional needs. So if you feel there is an area that is n o t being covered now, d o let us know. If you tell us

wha t you want, Council and t h e Bedford Row staff can t r y to provide it. Please address any comments o n the Society's services to either Toby Simon or t h e head of t h e relevant department.

Revised subscription rates for 1992 were approved a t t he Council meeting o n June 5 (as reported on page 000).

In deciding -to set t h e subscription a t a level which will mean that some long-term planned changes in services may have to b e postponed, Council t ook t h e v iew tha t it would b e wcong to ask members t o dig deeper into their pockets in the present economic climate.

An in-depth review of t h e Society's expenditure is n o w being undertaken in order t o examine the value of everything we do. It may be tha t we could provide a service more cost- effectively than w e do now; it may be that an existing service is no longer essential. The aim of t he exercise is t o ensure tha t your subscription is wisely and effectively used. in t h e interests o f t h e Drofession.

Changing Approaches MADAM - Having just returned from two years working in Africa I read David Henderson's article 'Elective in Central Africa' (May 1991) with particular interest. The article itself, however, left me with some questions about the approach to rehabilitation services which came over as being rather in the western mould, from which most people working in this sphere are trying to move away.

It is becoming increasingly recognised by agencies in development work that an imposed or top-down approach to helping a community is in the long run counter- productive. Most groups including the World Health Organisation are advocating the support of grass-root structures, enabling community members (and in this case particularly disabled people themselves) to bring about the changes that they feel would be most beneficial in their situation.

This is a much more consultative and educative process, involving the ident- ification and inclusion of local leaders and the training of many indigenous health workers to go out to villages and discover the needs and help the patients and parentskarers to overcome them in the most appropriate fashion.

Mr Henderson claims to have gained a basic understanding of Third World physio- therapy and has attempted to com- municate to us what that means, I would question whether we can even talk in those terms. Certainly the Third World can benefit a lot from some physiotherapy skills, but those working in the field must have a much broader approach.

We must think not about physiotherapy but about rehabilitation, and not about the therapists and what they are achieving, but about the disabled people and other concerned individuals in the community and what they have to offer, how they can be helped to help themselves and others, and what they can teach us. Indeed this de-

professionalisation method of care is one that we would do well to consider in this country too.

I for one would like us as physiotherapists to consider and discuss much further the contribution that we can make to reha- bilitation in the Third World and ways in which we should change our approaches and attitudes, and how we should be expanding our knowledge base in order to have the most to contribute.

Perhaps there are others who have or who would like to have experience in this most rewarding of specialties, and would like to contact me to discuss the topicafurther? LINDA PROSSER MCSP 9 0 Egerton Road Bishopston Bristol BS7 8HP

Canada Complaint MADAM - Like Jon Pearson MA MCSP of Bristol (March, 1991). I also have a complaint about the Canadian system.

I obtained a job in a general hospital in Ontario last August. Four months, and €150 later, I received my work authorisation and handed in my resignation in England. I rented my house and had almost sold my car before receiving a phone call from the Board of Directors of Physiotherapy for Ontario. This informed me that I was not eligible for registration as my initial training was as a remedial gymnast.

This came as quite a shock because when I contacted the Board last year it had not made it clear that ex-remedial gymnasts were not eligible for registration in Ontario.

I qualified from Pinderfields College in Wakefield in 1985 and went on to pass my complementary skills course, in Preston, in 1986. Since then I have worked as a physiotherapist in hospitals and special schools. I cannot understand why my qualifications, training and experience, which are valued by Britain, and many other

countries, are considered unacceptable in one province in Canada.

The Board offered me no exam, saying the only way I could be considered would be if I went to university (in Canada), to convert my diploma into a BSc degree, and even then it could not guarantee my registration at the end.

I hope that by sharing my experience with others I can prevent the disappointment and expense that I have had as a result of the inflexibility of the Ontario registration system. JANE GARNER MCSP DipRG&RT Barnsley

Threat to Specialist Care MADAM - I am writing as a senior physio- therapist with clinical expertise in obstetrics and gynaecology. I am concerned that some of the GP fund-holding practices, rather than 'seeking centres of excellence' as the Government claims, are in fact choosing to have their patients treated by generalist physiotherapists with no specialist expertise.

This is because it is less expensive to employ a physiotherapist within the practice, than to refer to a specialist physiotherapist at the District general hospital.

I fear that the standard of physiotherapy given to, for example, a patient suffering from incontinence, or a pregnant woman with low back pain due to hormonal laxity, will inevitably drop.

This must also be the case within other specialties such as orthopaedics and neurology.

If I, or a member of my family, suffered from a sports injury, or underwent a knee replacement, I would not expect them to be treated by an obstetric physiotherapist! JEANNE M MclNTOSH MCSP Chairman Education Sub-committee of

The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Obstetrics and Gynaecology

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