COVID-19 has highlighted the key role that physiology plays in understanding and treating disease. Members of The Physiological Society have made a rapid response to calls from the front line to provide physiological insight to clinical colleagues treating the immediate and long term effects of this disease. This collaboration was a reminder of the importance of maintaining an interface between basic research and clinical treatment.
Exercise physiology is a growing field, with an increasing number of Society members working in the lab and in the field to gather a wide range of data on the impact of exercise in health and disease. The Society is therefore delighted to support the introduction of the professional registration for Clinical Exercise Physiologists (CEP). This is an opportunity to bring research and clinical practice closer together, to ensure the best advice and treatment is available to enhance health, prevent chronic disease and to assist in prehabilitation and rehabilitation of clinical populations.
CEPs are now eligible for professional registration with the Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists (RCCP). Suitably qualified individuals can now apply, via an equivalence process, to become registered and will be conferred the title of Clinical Exercise Physiologist on successful acceptance on the register. Professional registration ensures CEPs are appropriately trained, meet standards of proficiency, have indemnity insurance, are committed to continued professional development and are deemed ‘fit to practice’.
This exciting development has been spearheaded by Professor Helen Jones who is the Chair of the CEP-UK steering Group. CEP-UK includes national and international members across the Clinical Exercise Physiology landscape from academic institutions to professional bodies, to public and private healthcare providers. CEP-UK is a project that is part of a Research England International Investment Initiative grant awarded to Liverpool John Moores University and University of Western Australia.
The Physiological Society whole-heartedly supports this important opportunity for exercise physiologists to be recognised as experts, further cementing the role for excellence in physiology to underpin healthcare in the UK.
For more information visit the Clinical Exercise Physiology UK website.