BASES and CEP-UK announce Clinical Exercise Physiologists are now eligible for professional registration

BASES, the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, is the professional body for Sport and Exercise Sciences in the United Kingdom. The BASES’ Board is delighted to announce a partnership with Clinical Exercise Physiology UK (CEP-UK). The aim of CEP-UK is to establish and promote the role of Clinical Exercise Physiologists as part of the treatment and management of chronic and complex health conditions within the UK healthcare system. An agreement was signed in October 2021 whereby BASES will house CEP-UK within their organisational structure. The CEP-UK Advisory Group will be part of BASES Articles of Association, with mutually agreed terms of reference, and will report directly to the BASES’ Board.

Clinical Exercise Physiology UK is excited to announce that Clinical Exercise Physiologists are now eligible for professional registration with the Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists (RCCP), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS). The RCCP hold a voluntary register regulated by the professional standards authority for Health and Social Care and enforce high standards of practice and maintain a public database. Suitably qualified individuals can now apply, via an equivalence process, to become registered and will be conferred the title of Clinical Exercise Physiologist upon successful acceptance on the register. Professional registration ensures Clinical Exercise Physiologists are appropriately trained, meet standards of proficiency, have indemnity insurance, are committed to continued professional development and are deemed ‘fit to practice’. The process to accredit Higher Education MSc degree programmes will be announced in Spring 2022 with a view to opening a graduate Clinical Exercise Physiologist registration route in September 2022.

For CEP specific advice on applying via the equivalency process, please visit here. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found here. To apply, please visit here.

Professional registration represents a step-change in the provision of exercise prescription in clinical populations. Those registered will be qualified health professionals proficient in exercise testing, prescription and delivery of evidence-based interventions for the prevention, treatment and long-term management of acute, sub-acute, chronic and complex conditions. They work as part of multi-disciplinary teams of healthcare and rehabilitation providers across sectors and settings. Clinical Exercise Physiologist services will aim to optimise physical function and health whilst promoting long-term health through lifestyle modification and behaviour change.

BASES has a long-standing relationship with Towergate Insurance, which is now offering Clinical Exercise Physiologists who are BASES members discounted rates for professional indemnity cover. For more details, please see here.

Professor David Broom FBASES, former Chair of the Physical Activity for Health Division comments: ‘The opening of the register is essential and very timely due to the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour related morbidities. CEP-UK includes numerous BASES’ Fellows, national and international members across the Clinical Exercise Physiology landscape from academic institutions to professional bodies, to public and private healthcare providers. CEP-UK has put in a great deal of time and effort so that Clinical Exercise Physiologists can now get the recognition they deserve. I am thankful to the group superbly lead by the team from Liverpool John Moores University and University of Western Australia.’