BASEM & FSEM Joint Working Groups Update – October 2022

Our joint working groups with the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine (BASEM) continue to make excellent progress, with the first of the groups submitting their final report this month.

We wrote to you earlier this year to inform you that we were holding joint discussions with BASEM on the future of the specialty and the possibility of forming a single organisation with the aspiration of becoming a royal college. To fully explore this issue, we set up eight working group with each exploring a different aspect of the question (see below for a full list of working groups).

We can confirm that the majority of the working groups are now in the process of finalising their reports and preparing to submit these to the leadership of both organisations. The first report, from Working Group 2, was submitted earlier this month.

To protect those involved, full details of the ongoing discussions will remain confidential until all groups have concluded. At that point, the groups’ reports will be shared with the memberships of both organisations for debate and an ultimate vote intended to be held by Spring 2023.

While discussions are at an advanced stage, there are still plenty of opportunities to get involved and have your say. Please contact us at enquiries@fsem.ac.uk if you’d like to discuss any of the issues raised as part of the working group meetings.

Dr Natasha Jones
President, Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine UK

Dr Eleanor Tillett
Chair, British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine

List of Working Groups

1. Strategic advantages, opportunities and implications of dissolving both organisations, re-forming together as a joint organisation with an aspiration to become a (Royal) College of Sport, Exercise and Musculoskeletal Medicine.

Subcommittees:

a) Membership/fellowship structure and fees

b) Future relationship with the RCPL and RCSEd

c) Legalities

d) Geographical location and roles of current staff

e) Organisational structure (To present options and proposed organisational structure for new organisation including voting rights and representation for different membership categories. To meet once outputs from group 1a and 1b determined)

f) Financial projection of likely costs

2. The advantages, disadvantages, opportunities and implications of remaining as separate organisations, with close working relationships but freedom to explore, and engage in, other strategic partnerships