Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care Annual Report: 31 December 2013

Committee Membership

Sarah Keilty / President
Catherine Thompson / Chair
Lizzie Flude / Vice Chair
Melanie Curtis / Treasurer
Lynn McDonnell / PRO (inc. Membership Secretary
Harriet Shannon / Research Officer
Kris Bahadur / Chronic Disease Champion / Until 31 December 2013
David McWilliams / Critical Care Champion / Until 31 December 2013
Eleanor Main / Paediatric Champion / Until 31 December 2013
Charlotte Pereria / Surgery Champion
Jenny Plummer / Publications Chair / From 1 January 2012
Robyn Steiger / Respiratory Review Editor / From 1 January 2012
Una Jones / Journal Co-Editor
Emma Chaplin / Journal Co-Editor / From 1 January 2012
Jenny Plummer / Newsletter Editor
Matt Cox / Website Manager

ACPRC Secretary

Angela Hurlstone

ACPRC operational address

ACPRC Secretariat Office, PO Box 4460, Slough, SL33FU

Structure, Governance and Management

ACPRC is a Professional Network of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), and a member of the CSP Cardio-respiratory Alliance. Governance and reporting requirements are set by the CSP and compliance with these requirements is essential for on-going recognition of the ACPRC as a Professional Network. CSP recognition of the ACPRC provides the organisation with many benefits including insurance cover for our property and activities, financial support through capitation fees and organisational and professional support.

The committee meets three times each year, including a two day planning meeting which is usually held in January to determine the work programme for the year. The committee comprises an executive committee and publications sub-committee.

Objectives and Activities

ACPRC Mission Statement

The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care promotes health and best practice in respiratory physiotherapy for the benefit of all.

ACPRC Functions and Aims

The functions of the ACPRC, as set out in the constitution are:

  • To represent and promote respiratory physiotherapy in the UK.
  • To facilitate the national and international exchange of information and ideas.
  • To provide opportunities for educational development.
  • To promote research and its dissemination.
  • To influence the development of the respiratory agenda in the UK.

The aims of the ACPRC, as set out in the constitution are to provide and sustain an organisation that:

  • supports physiotherapists to deliver evidence based, best practice to improve outcomes for patients
  • facilitates clinical excellence and health promotion in respiratory physiotherapy to colleagues and clients throughout the U.K.
  • facilitates education and training in respiratory physiotherapy.
  • encourages research and development in respiratory physiotherapy and related fields, and provide a forum for discussion of findings.
  • develops and maintain links with other relevant organisations in the U.K. and overseas.
  • represents respiratory physiotherapy within the CSP, the cardio-respiratory alliance and other relevant organisations.
  • communicates between members and other relevant agencies by regular publications.

ACPRC membership 2013

At 31 December 2013 the ACPRC had 995 members of whom 913 were CSP members. The remainder of the members are overseas members, who are members of their national professional bodies, or are non-physiotherapist members who are members of their own professional bodies.

ACPRC Objectives and Activities 2013

At the January ‘awayday’ the ACPRC committee agreed the objectives for the year and a programme of activities to deliver these. The committee successfully delivered all six of the objectives that were set, and details of how these were delivered is provided below.Work will continue to deliver the 2013 ACPRC conference (objective 1) and to complete the work on developing the operational systems of the ACPRC (objective 5) within the three year time frame.

  1. Deliver ACPRC conference 2013 and commence planning for 2015

The ACPRC conference 2013 was held at the Leicester Hilton Hotel on 19-20 April 2013. Attendance was not as high as previous years and members cited the cost of attendance, travel and accommodation as reasons for this.The committee realises conference attendance is a significant expense for members and this will be given significant consideration when planning future conferences and study days. Planning for the 2015 conference began in September and a provisional theme of the patient experience / walking in the steps of the patient was identified.

  1. Review and Development of Operational Systems

At the beginning of 2012 the committee set itself a three year task to improve and update the ACPRC website and the way we manage membership processes, to make the process more efficient and easier for members to use. This year was the second year of the work. We have made excellent progress with this and have commissioned a Sheffield based webdesign company called Arkom to deliver the new website for us. The member facing aspects of the new website will be launched in spring 2014, ahead of schedule and the committee pages are being built to provide us with a secure repository for resources and an ACPRC ‘archive’. As a result of this, members will be able to manage their own membership details, which will help us to ensure that we have CSP numbers, up to date email addresses etc for all members.

  1. Undertakeinitial scoping for Emergency Respiratory Physiotherapy service project and produce position statement

Throughout 2011 and 2012 ACPRC received many requests for advice and support from members who are struggling to maintain an on-call / out of hours respiratory physiotherapy service. There has also been much debate on iCSP about this subject, but there is little guidance to help physiotherapy managers or respiratory physiotherapists. We want to do something to support members with this challenge, but realise that this may require a larger piece of work that takes more than one year to complete.

We have held initial discussions with CSP about the scope of this project, and what their involvement with it might be. Unfortunately Claire Strickland who was our CSP contact for this has moved on and we await a new CSP representative with whom to liaise. It is likely that this work will engage with other CSP Professional Networks including LAMPs, the managers’ group and possibly the wider Cardiorespiratory Alliance. We have also committed to include a session on this subject at the 2015 ACPRC conference.

  1. Develop collaborationswith CSP Cardiorespiratory Alliance and other Professional Networks

We have held several meetings (face-to-face and telephone) to discuss how we might work together as the CSP Cardiorespiratory Alliance. We hope to be able to run study days together, however we need to establish a time that doesn’t clash with our individual conferences or with CSP congress. We have also identified medical devices on prescription as an area where we might be able to collaborate. This would also require close collaboration with partners in industry, however we feel it is important to increase patient access to valuable adjuncts such as PEP and oscillating PEP devices. Outside of the cardiorespiratory alliance, we have agreed to work with AGILE to develop exercise guidelines.

  1. Produce four leaflets to support 2009 Guideline

The BTS/ACPRC Guideline that was published in 2009 was supported by a series of seven leaflets for physiotherapists to give to patients to help with self management of respiratory conditions. The committee agreed to produce another four leaflets to complement this series. Through a consultation on the ACPRC website the membership were asked to identify which leaflets would be most beneficial and helpful to their practice. The most highly rated leaflets were identified and a team of willing volunteer physiotherapists has been recruited to undertake the work. The leaflets are to cover exercise, oscillating positive expiratory pressure (OPEP), PEP and Autogenic Drainage. The working group has since decided to amalgamate the PEP and OPEP leaflets into one. Work continues on the leaflets and they will be available via the ACPRC website later in 2014.

  1. Collaborate with CSP on their Clinical Outcomes project

The ACPRC committee committed to work with CSP on a project exploring the use of clinical outcome measures in practice, and in particular the use of the EQ5D-5L. There has been some suggestion that the EQ5D-5L be used as a standard outcome measure for physiotherapy interventions and that it may ultimately be used to inform commissioning. This is important as we do not know whether the EQ5D-5L is responsive to physiotherapy interventions in respiratory care. Some initial piloting of the EQ5D-5L outcome measure has been undertaken by committee members in their departments. At present it is too early to report the findings of this and more detail will be provided through the newsletter and in the next years’ annual report.

Summary

2013 has been another busy year for the ACPRC committee.We have made progress on developing the facilities and opportunities offered to members and look forward to launching the new website in the coming year.We realise the importance of providing affordable CPD and educational opportunities to members and are considering this for the planning of the 2015 conference.