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A number of faculties
BJC Vol2
No 1 Page
2
A number of faculties. Tim Jay, DC, President of British College of Chiropractic
R
IGHT FROM the start, the British College of Chiropractic (BCC) will be practising what is now called ‘networking’. At least one member of each of the fifteen regional faculties will sit on the College Council, the governing body of the BCC. This person will be the faculty chairman and these people will be the College’s representatives in these broadly based geographical groups in all parts of the United Kingdom (see map opposite). These areas which, over the last few years, have been called Post-Graduate Groups have now been designated as faculties within the BCC. Within the next few months, each will be having their first annual general meeting to elect their officers ready for the official launch of the College. The proposed constitution of the BCC allows for the majority of the Council to be elected at a regional level and, therefore, the Council will be able to speak with authority though the elected representatives of its regional faculties. The principal drawback of the faculty structure is its geographical boundaries and the time it takes for some members to travel to meetings in those faculties with large areas. This can involve round trips of over four hours and the commitment of some chiropractors in attending meetings and seminars should be noted by their colleagues. There may well be a case in the future, once the faculty structure and the BCC itself have gained an established footing, for sub-faculties to be formed. I already know of one area that is looking to go down this road. There are also some faculties (such as the Midlands and North-West) which initially combined because of lack of numbers which have the facility to split and form their own separate faculties in the future. There are huge advantages in having an organisation with branches in every part of the country. The faculties will hopefully come to represent to their members what the BCC stands for. There will be many members who join the College
either because they feel they must, or for the financial advantages it may offer them. Hopefully, most will join because they realise the BCC will represent the academic standards of the whole profession and is the only organisation which do this effectively on a national level. For most members, their only regular contact with the College will be this Journal. Many members may go years without ever using a College service or attending one of its meetings. Many will live hundreds of miles from the College’s headquarters and, at best, may have only the most limited of contact with the actual physical premeses. It is for those members that the local Faculty becomes, in effect, the
A faculty system will help bind the profession together...... College. Eventually, a Faculty may produce its own Newsletter, writen and produced by local colleagues. Subsequently, it is a local colleague for whom they will vote as chairman, and it is to a local College meeting that they are most likely to go. When they do meet nationally known practitioners, it will be at a local meeting that this is likely to happen. Therefore, if they have any difficulties, it will be those colleagues they have met at faculty meetings whose personal and professional advice they are able to turn to. A faculty system will help bind the profession together and enable new members to be embraced at faculty social functions which hopefully will be both supportive and entertaining. Younger, newer members will also be able to make personal contact with at least one member of the College Council their faculty chairman. As the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) develops its standards and the BCC hopefully becomes one of the accredited providers of Continuing Profession-
Page 3 BJC Vol2 No 1
al Development (CPD) and Pre-Registration Training (PRT), so the role of the Faculties will increase. No other body will be able to provide a regional structure with personal contacts, help and support from
There are huge advanfages in having an organisation with branches in every part of the country..... the regional CPD tutors and clinical tutors. The regional CPD tutors are also members of the College’s Court of Electors and will be another contact at a local level for faculty members with the College authorities. During the latter part of this year, organisers of your Faculty will be sending out notification of the annual general meetings and the election of officers. I urge you, whoever you are, which ever academic college is your alma mater, to which ever Association you currently belong, to partic-
ipate in the elections to make your faculty work and, thus, to enhance the BCC’s national stature. As President, I, along with the other officers, cannot make the College work unless we have the help of chiropractors throughout the country. So, at these first-ever elections, please be there to support us and, if you ever had any thoughts of holding a post yourself, then this is your chance. As soon as the College officially opens, any member who has a problem is welcome to contact me personally. To make this as easy as possible, I shall be available every Tuesday morning from 8-9am on the President’s phone line should there be anything that you would like to discuss. I would hope that the members of the College will see themselves as an extended family, working together to enhance the academic and professional standards of chiropractic.
Medical conundrum I would like to convey my congratulations on the production of The British Journal of Chiropractic, and formation of the British College of Chiropractic. I was, however, dismayed to read the editors reply to Matthew Bennett’s letter (BJC l(2):lO). This is a chiropractic Journal and not a medical journal. The editor was selective in his choice of definitions of the word ‘medical’. He happily quotes: “1) The art and science dealing with the maintenance and restoration of health including the prevention and treatment of disease, and 2) The branch of medicine that employs non-surgical methods of treatments” [I]. However, he omits the definition which most identifies and defines the term: “3) pertaining to any drug or remedy” [2]. Agreeing with the first definition does not make a chiropractor a medical practitioner. We have no need to become pseudomedics. Within our scope of practice we are far superior to the traditional medical approach. It is medical journals that, until relatively recently, had still been advocating weeks of bed rest for acute low back pain patients. It is traditional medicine that has been found lacking in research to substantiate their treatment protocols for low back pain [3,4]. It is chiropractic with manipulative techniques that has the most research and international recognition in the treatment of low back pain and neck pain. It is only a matter of time, provided we maintain the highest standards of education and research, before we are internationally regarded as the experts in non-surgical spinal care and rehabilitation. Why then should we wish to take a step backwards from being in the elite to being smudged into a blurred assimilation within the medical sphere. This is a chiropractic journal, not a medical one! It is a small but important point. We are a small, emerging and progressive profession and we must maintain confidence in ourselves as key specialist members of a broad spectrum of health care. Gareth Rhys, BSc, DC Rotherham Chiropractic
Map detailing
the fifteen regional faculties
of the British College of Chiropractic
Clinic
No 1 Page
2
A number of faculties. Tim Jay, DC, President of British College of Chiropractic
R
IGHT FROM the start, the British College of Chiropractic (BCC) will be practising what is now called ‘networking’. At least one member of each of the fifteen regional faculties will sit on the College Council, the governing body of the BCC. This person will be the faculty chairman and these people will be the College’s representatives in these broadly based geographical groups in all parts of the United Kingdom (see map opposite). These areas which, over the last few years, have been called Post-Graduate Groups have now been designated as faculties within the BCC. Within the next few months, each will be having their first annual general meeting to elect their officers ready for the official launch of the College. The proposed constitution of the BCC allows for the majority of the Council to be elected at a regional level and, therefore, the Council will be able to speak with authority though the elected representatives of its regional faculties. The principal drawback of the faculty structure is its geographical boundaries and the time it takes for some members to travel to meetings in those faculties with large areas. This can involve round trips of over four hours and the commitment of some chiropractors in attending meetings and seminars should be noted by their colleagues. There may well be a case in the future, once the faculty structure and the BCC itself have gained an established footing, for sub-faculties to be formed. I already know of one area that is looking to go down this road. There are also some faculties (such as the Midlands and North-West) which initially combined because of lack of numbers which have the facility to split and form their own separate faculties in the future. There are huge advantages in having an organisation with branches in every part of the country. The faculties will hopefully come to represent to their members what the BCC stands for. There will be many members who join the College
either because they feel they must, or for the financial advantages it may offer them. Hopefully, most will join because they realise the BCC will represent the academic standards of the whole profession and is the only organisation which do this effectively on a national level. For most members, their only regular contact with the College will be this Journal. Many members may go years without ever using a College service or attending one of its meetings. Many will live hundreds of miles from the College’s headquarters and, at best, may have only the most limited of contact with the actual physical premeses. It is for those members that the local Faculty becomes, in effect, the
A faculty system will help bind the profession together...... College. Eventually, a Faculty may produce its own Newsletter, writen and produced by local colleagues. Subsequently, it is a local colleague for whom they will vote as chairman, and it is to a local College meeting that they are most likely to go. When they do meet nationally known practitioners, it will be at a local meeting that this is likely to happen. Therefore, if they have any difficulties, it will be those colleagues they have met at faculty meetings whose personal and professional advice they are able to turn to. A faculty system will help bind the profession together and enable new members to be embraced at faculty social functions which hopefully will be both supportive and entertaining. Younger, newer members will also be able to make personal contact with at least one member of the College Council their faculty chairman. As the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) develops its standards and the BCC hopefully becomes one of the accredited providers of Continuing Profession-
Page 3 BJC Vol2 No 1
al Development (CPD) and Pre-Registration Training (PRT), so the role of the Faculties will increase. No other body will be able to provide a regional structure with personal contacts, help and support from
There are huge advanfages in having an organisation with branches in every part of the country..... the regional CPD tutors and clinical tutors. The regional CPD tutors are also members of the College’s Court of Electors and will be another contact at a local level for faculty members with the College authorities. During the latter part of this year, organisers of your Faculty will be sending out notification of the annual general meetings and the election of officers. I urge you, whoever you are, which ever academic college is your alma mater, to which ever Association you currently belong, to partic-
ipate in the elections to make your faculty work and, thus, to enhance the BCC’s national stature. As President, I, along with the other officers, cannot make the College work unless we have the help of chiropractors throughout the country. So, at these first-ever elections, please be there to support us and, if you ever had any thoughts of holding a post yourself, then this is your chance. As soon as the College officially opens, any member who has a problem is welcome to contact me personally. To make this as easy as possible, I shall be available every Tuesday morning from 8-9am on the President’s phone line should there be anything that you would like to discuss. I would hope that the members of the College will see themselves as an extended family, working together to enhance the academic and professional standards of chiropractic.
Medical conundrum I would like to convey my congratulations on the production of The British Journal of Chiropractic, and formation of the British College of Chiropractic. I was, however, dismayed to read the editors reply to Matthew Bennett’s letter (BJC l(2):lO). This is a chiropractic Journal and not a medical journal. The editor was selective in his choice of definitions of the word ‘medical’. He happily quotes: “1) The art and science dealing with the maintenance and restoration of health including the prevention and treatment of disease, and 2) The branch of medicine that employs non-surgical methods of treatments” [I]. However, he omits the definition which most identifies and defines the term: “3) pertaining to any drug or remedy” [2]. Agreeing with the first definition does not make a chiropractor a medical practitioner. We have no need to become pseudomedics. Within our scope of practice we are far superior to the traditional medical approach. It is medical journals that, until relatively recently, had still been advocating weeks of bed rest for acute low back pain patients. It is traditional medicine that has been found lacking in research to substantiate their treatment protocols for low back pain [3,4]. It is chiropractic with manipulative techniques that has the most research and international recognition in the treatment of low back pain and neck pain. It is only a matter of time, provided we maintain the highest standards of education and research, before we are internationally regarded as the experts in non-surgical spinal care and rehabilitation. Why then should we wish to take a step backwards from being in the elite to being smudged into a blurred assimilation within the medical sphere. This is a chiropractic journal, not a medical one! It is a small but important point. We are a small, emerging and progressive profession and we must maintain confidence in ourselves as key specialist members of a broad spectrum of health care. Gareth Rhys, BSc, DC Rotherham Chiropractic
Map detailing
the fifteen regional faculties
of the British College of Chiropractic
Clinic