ARC 2012: Heated debate on status of extended scope practitioners

Philip Hulse: 'The term ESP has had its day'. Photo: Guzelian

Speaking in support of the first motion to be debated at this year’s ARC, Ms Pope accused some physios with extended scope status of exhibiting ‘puffed up chest syndrome’.

Ms Pope said that patients routinely mistook ESPs for consultants because they refused to wear standard physio uniforms, and claimed that one had even told patients that he or she no longer practised in physiotherapy.

Ms Pope was one of a number of delegates who argued that the ESP title was outmoded and should be replaced by the term advanced practitioner.

Council member Philip Hulse said a search showed that the only other professional group still using the ESP title were petrochemical pump engineers, and that feedback from patients had convinced him that the term ESP had ‘served its purpose’ and had ’had its day’.

But Mark Knight-Davis, an ESP and a professional network representative, said the ESP title had been synonymous with the development of professional practice both nationally and internationally for many years, and urged delegates not to back the ‘hasty and disturbing’ motion.

Another ESP and a professional network representative, Susan Butress, accused the CSP of being ‘quite naive’ in allowing the motion to be debated at a time when managers might be looking for excuses to downgrade physio posts.

Delegates decided to cut short the debate and voted overwhelmingly to remit the motion to council.