Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care Annual Report:
31 December 2013
Committee Membership
Sarah Keilty
Catherine Thompson
Lizzie Flude
Melanie Curtis
Lynn McDonnell
Harriet Shannon
Kris Bahadur
David McWilliams
Eleanor Main
Charlotte Pereria
Jenny Plummer
Robyn Steiger
Una Jones
Emma Chaplin
Jenny Plummer
Matt Cox
President
Chair
Vice Chair
Treasurer
PRO (inc. Membership Secretary
Research Officer
Chronic Disease Champion
Critical Care Champion
Paediatric Champion
Surgery Champion
Publications Chair
Respiratory Review Editor
Journal Co-Editor
Journal Co-Editor
Newsletter Editor
Website Manager
Until 31 December 2013
Until 31 December 2013
Until 31 December 2013
From 1 January 2012
From 1 January 2012
From 1 January 2012
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.
2. 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.
3. Undertake initial 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.
4. Develop collaborations with 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.