Standards

Introduction

The latest edition of the Standards of Physiotherapy Practice (SOPP) was published in 2005 after extensive consultation with members. These standards:

  • make an important contribution to the excellence and consistency in clinical practice through Clinical Governance
  • reflect all practice areas, settings and specialities
  • set the national standards against which individuals and services can compare their performance

What are the Standards of Practice?

A collection of documents describing the professional concensus on the practise of physiotherapy for members of the CSP working in any occupational setting. The Standards reflect the collective judgement of the profession at a given point in time. As the practise of physiotherapy is constantly developing the standards will, by definition, change over time to reflect these developments. The Standards of Physiotherapy Practice currently comprise:

Core standards of Physiotherapy Practice

These provide a framework within which all physiotherapists and associate members are required to practise. They provide the overarching framework within which CIOG’s may chose to give specialty specific information with which to support the core standards: view the core standards publication record.

Service Standards of Physiotherapy Practice

These describe aspects of the physiotherapy service for which the organisation is responsible in order to maintain the safety and quality of services for staff and patients. These standards apply to all physiotherapy settings although some standards may not be relevant in some settings: view the service standards publication record.

Clinical audit tools

The CSP clinical audit tools provide a template for members to audit both the core and service standards and so identify areas of good practice and also areas for development work. The tools here relate to the Core and Service Standards as published in 2000. Work to correlate the audit tools with the new standards is being identified and will be taken forward later this year.

In the meantime, the Society is still recommending members use the 2000 tools, in conjunction with the 2005 Standards. If members have any feedback on issues that need updating in the audit tools, or concerns about the interpretation of the audit tools in light of any inconsistencies, please do send these via email to our enquiry handling unit enquiries@csp.org.uk

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What is the difference between a standard, a guideline and a protocol?

Guidelines, protocols and standards all provide explicit statements of expected practice performance (Bury & Mead 2000), such that:

  • a standard is 'an accepted example of something against which others are judged or measured' (Collins English dictionary) or 'a level of quality'. The Standards of Physiotherapy Practice reflect the achievable standards for the practice of physiotherapy. Thus the SOPP allow members to measure their practice and from the results make decisions about how best to improve their practice in their own particular area of work.
  • a guideline is 'a systematically developed statement to assist patients and physiotherapists decisions about appropriate healthcare for specific circumstances.' (Field and Lohr 1992). Clinical guidelines are based on the best available evidence and provide recommendations for practice about specific clinical interventions for specific patient populations.
  • a protocol is a step-by-step outline for undertaking a specific task. They normally have to followed exactly, whereas with a guideline the recommendations need to be considered in the light of the particular patient and settings as well as the strength of the evidence base.
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