wcpt congress: event of a lifetime - World Confederation for Physical ...

YOUR NATIONAL OFFICE AT WORK
COMMENTARY
ON THE GROUND
KAREN McLEAY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
PHYSIOTHERAPY NEW ZEALAND
Your chance to raise awareness
Many members are enthusiastically
and energetically
supporting our work to
raise awareness regarding
the value and role of physiotherapy
in the treatment
of arthritis. This is very exciting
for me to see. I now
encourage all members
to become involved. Find
out how in the Awareness
Raising column.
Face to face with other
chief executives
Like Gill I have just returned from
WCPT meetings and congress in
Amsterdam. It was an extremely
valuable experience for me, in that I
achieved a real understanding of how
other associations are operating and
the different ways they address issues
similar to ours.
...others were keen to learn
about our organisation as we
are held in very high regard.
One of our advantages is that
as an organisation we are quite
nimble and can respond to
issues quite quickly if need be.
I will focus here on one particular
meeting that was incredibly useful
for me. It was a meeting of all the
chief executives of the WCPT member
associations, lasting for most of a
day. Currently they meet once every
three months for one to two days in
a different country each time, and
I receive the notes. The meetings
are primarily in Europe so I have not
attended, but I do email them or some
members from time to time, to keep
up with the play. So this face-to-face
meeting was essential, making future
connections much easier.
The others were keen to learn about
our organisation as we are held in
very high regard. One of our advantages
is that as an organisation we
are quite nimble and can respond to
issues quite quickly if need be. Many
of them were caught up in all sorts
of complicated arrangements.
Not surprisingly, the other associations
had a much stronger focus on health
than on accidents. Most of their
members came from the public health
system, whereas private practitioners
make up slightly more than half
of our membership, probably due
to the introduction of ACC.
Another clear observation was that
most of the other physiotherapy
associations were heavily involved
in promoting the value and understanding
of physiotherapy in their
countries - something we are now
concentrating on. There was a lot
of discussion around the effectiveness
of some of these campaigns
so I believe we can learn a lot from
their experience.
Several were developing new websites,
which is something that we clearly
need to think about doing as ours
is largely member-focused and needs
to offer a more public face.
The economic recession and changes
in government policies around health
issues hit many of the countries quite
hard and they were grappling to adjust
to the changes. We are not alone.
I also learnt that the role of the advanced
practitioner (or equivalent title)
is key for the future of the profession.
Karen McLeay
Executive Director
Some of us Kiwis with Stan Paris
04 | PHYSIO MATTERS AUGUST 2011