Faculty Awarded Charitable Status
We are pleased to announce that, following a successful application to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine UK has now been awarded charitable status.
This marks a significant change in our status, as we had previously been registered as a charity under the auspices of the Hill Square Educational Trust located at The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Our members should not notice any changes or disruptions to services, including those provided by the Royal College of Physicians and The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on our behalf, as a result of this switch. The Faculty was formed as an intercollegiate faculty of RCP and RCSEd, and will retain close links with both colleges. Both RCP and RCSEd will retain Office Bearer observer positions on our Board in our first few years, and we are delighted to be able to rely on their continued support. We will also continue to rent our office in 1a Hill Square, Edinburgh.
Behind the scenes, however, there will be many changes. This is the first step in a process that will see us set up as an independent organisation with our own IT, HR, Finance and Governance Structure. All FSEM staff will also transfer over to the new organisation. Our goal is to complete the transition and be up and running as a new organisation by April of this year.
We believe these steps to be necessary to support the continued growth of Sport and Exercise Medicine as a specialty. In our Strategy 2022-25, we identified the need to develop FSEM as a collaborative, multi-disciplinary organisation capable of uniting the specialty, and we believe that gaining independent charitable status is a significant milestone towards achieving that goal. We would like to thank our parent colleges, as well as our Office Bearers, volunteers and staff past and present for their tremendous support throughout the years.