Download english hockey medical code

ENGLAND HOCKEY MEDICAL CODE
THIS code has been adopted as January 2007 in order to set out the
function of the England Hockey medical support services and to explain to
members of our squads what to expect from the Doctors and other
medical staff working with our players.
Relationship with your GP
The physicians engaged by England Hockey are not intended to be your Primary Care
Practitioners; you should enrol with a General Practitioner as this is the recognised link to
the comprehensive system of health care provided by the NHS, or indeed private medical
services.
Our physicians are here to support your development as an elite sports man or woman and
to provide emergency treatment at events and training camps and specialist treatment in
terms of prevention of injuries or illness and recovery from injury and illness. Our physicians
operate within the sporting context and their role is limited and there will be times when
you are asked to refer to your own General Practitioner for treatment and/or referral on to
other specialist medical support.
Basic services available to all athletes
England Hockey will provide the following medical and physiotherapy support regardless of
the funding status of the athlete.
1.
2.
3.
All coaching staff will have up to date first aid qualifications and will be able to
deal with injuries on a first instance basis which occur on the pitch or at another
training venue under their supervision.
At National training camps invited squads will have access to physiotherapy and
to injury assessment and treatment to the extent that this falls within the
competence of the medical staff in attendance.
Outside of training camps, access to the physiotherapy staff employed by
England Hockey and based at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre.
Note that for non-funded athletes England Hockey cannot provide access to EIS medical
staff or rehabilitation facilities, nor support towards the cost of private physiotherapy or
medical treatment.
England Hockey recommend that all non-funded athletes take out some form of private
health insurance, the insurance policy should cover the following (and you should check with
your broker or the provider direct that this is covered under the policy);
1.
2.
Sports physiotherapy and sports medial treatment with qualified sports and
exercise medical practitioners.
Access to orthopaedic surgeons and medical investigations such as MRI scans.
Even though sports and exercise medicine has recently become a recognised specialist
practice under NHS guidelines if you do not have access to EIS facilities and do not take out
appropriate insurance you may be forced to wait a long time for appropriate treatment
under the NHS.
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Talented Athlete Sponsorship Scheme (TASS) Athletes
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) promotes TASS. TASS athletes need
to refer to the document they receive from the DCMS which sets out the level of medical
provision that they are entitled to, and the way this is accessed.
Prescription and supply of Medicines
Our physicians are able to prescribe and/or provide medicines but this is at the limit of their
responsibility to you. They do not have a sufficiently large budget to supply medication of a
continuous or repeat basis and if this is what is needed you will be asked to see your own
GP.
English Institute of Sport (EIS) Medical Support
The various EIS Centres provide differing degrees of medical (including physiotherapy)
support to athletes registered with them. What the EIS provide, and where it is provided, is
outside the responsibility of England Hockey. EIS medical support is a different level of
medical servicing to high performance athletes and is not the responsibility of England
Hockey. England Hockey and its physicians will help you liaise with the EIS in respect of any
medical support you require. The amount of EIS support you are able to access will depend
on your level of funding, as well as the Centre you are registered with.
England Hockey Medical Insurance Plan.
England Hockey have taken out Medical Insurance to cover squad members for certain
treatment when they are away from the UK involved in official training camps, matches,
tours or tournaments. A copy of this Policy is available on request from Ian Wilson
([email protected]) and you are strongly recommended to read it. The
insurance and support services are provided by Royal & Sun Alliance and their wholly owned
subsidiary FirstAssist Group Limited. In brief the insurance provides the following benefits;
a.
b.
c.
d.
Advice and guidance before departure on such things as recommended
inoculations.
Liaison with local doctors and hospitals.
Arrange and payment for visits and treatment from local medics.
Repatriation back to the UK and in some circumstances transport of relatives to
foreign destination to be with injured or ill player.
European Union travel and Form E111.
Form E111 is no longer valid; it has been replaced by the European Health Insurance Card
(EHIC). As part of the reciprocal arrangements between member states of the EU (and for
these purposes Switzerland) any citizen of the EU is entitle to access the public health care
services of a Member State for the purpose of treatment ‘that becomes necessary’ while in
that country. Note this does not cover illness or injury that was pre-existing for which
treatment became necessary BEFORE departure from the UK. In order to be able to prove
your entitlement when abroad within the EU it is essential that you obtain and carry with
you an EHIC. Details of how to obtain your EHIC can be obtained from the Department of
Health website at www.dh.gov.uk look for the pages concerning ‘health advice for travellers’.
You will be asked to show a valid and in date EHIC to your team manager but if you don’t
have one then you may become liable to pay for necessary medical treatment through the
local heath care system, or provide some evidence of ability to pay and guarantee of
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payment before treatment will be made available. Therefore it is STRONGLY
RECOMMENDED that athletes obtain an EHIC before leaving for an overseas trip within
the EU.
There are reciprocal arrangements with a number of other countries such as New Zealand
and Australia and details of the formalities and what is covered are also available on the
Dept. of Health website.
Medical Confidentiality
Anything you say to any one of the England Hockey medical team will be treated as
confidential in the same way as any other health professional that treats you. In the same
way information which the physician discovers about your health and fitness as a result of
treating you will be kept confidential.
You may waive this confidentiality by allowing the England Hockey medical team to pass on
information about your health and fitness to members of the coaching staff, but you do not
have to.
There are very limited circumstances where a member of the medical team may disclose
information about you without your consent; this is when the disclosure is necessary to
prevent death or serious injury to yourself or others. This is a very rare occurrence.
It is worth reminding those players who have signed the GB Hockey Performance
agreement that these matters are dealt with at clause 6 in the following way;
6.1
The Athlete understands that in the high performance sport environment a fully integrated
support system involves a range of support staff working together (e.g. doctors,
physiotherapists, sports scientists, coaches). This is required not only to provide quality
health and injury management support to the Athlete, but also to make assessments about
the Athlete’s fitness to perform optimally in training and competition. For these purposes
the Athlete consents to relevant details from consultations and treatments carried out by
the GBOHPP Medical Officer and designated NGB physicians (including the results of any
test carried out in relation to Clause 6.14) being released to the Performance
Director/Head Coach and specified NGB support staff. The Athlete understands that
refusal to give consent for the release of such details will not affect his access to medical
care or treatment but accepts that it may be considered in relation to selection for the
GBOHPP or representative teams.
6.2
The Athlete further understands that he may withdraw consent for the release of medical
information at any time by notifying the physician carrying out the consultation and
understands that only the notice of its withdrawal will be released to those specified.
6.4
The Athlete agrees to notify the Performance Director/Head Coach as soon as the Athlete
becomes injured or ill during an event or competition or at other times if the illness or injury
interrupts the Athlete’s training for two or more consecutive days.
6.5
The athlete agrees to immediately notify the Performance Director/Head Coach as soon as
the Athlete suspects or realises that he is likely to or will be absent from any events or
competitions (including organised training events) due to injury or illness. Such notification
shall (if required by the Performance Director/Head Coach) include a written explanation
from or on behalf of the Athlete, together with copies of any medical report(s) dealing with
the injury or illness which the Athlete may have obtained.
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Therefore there is an assumption that these funded athletes’ have already given a limited
consent, WHICH THEY CAN WITHDRAW AT ANY TIME.
Consent to treatment
All medical treatment must be consented to, except where the patient is unable to give
consent, for instance where they are unconscious following an accident. What this means is
that you are entitled to understand the nature and possible effect of any suggested
treatment, including the risk of unwanted side effects. Our medical team are obliged to
explain these things to you before treatment begins. You can not properly give consent
unless you understand what you are consenting to; if you don’t understand, ask!
Camps and Tours
The England Hockey medical staff are likely to have a greater role in the treatment of players
during camps and tours. Our medical staff will endeavour to take a sufficient quantity of the
most useful medicines based on past experiences. However there may be injuries or
illnesses that are too serious for our physicians to treat whereupon you will be referred to
the appropriate local hospital or other healthcare facility. This will be governed in part by
where you are (in EU countries we will seek to make use of the EHIC scheme for
emergency treatment) what treatment is needed and whether this falls within the scope of
our medical insurance cover.
InjuryZone by UK Sport
As you may know, UK Sport manages a centralised electronic medical records system on
which it records and stores medical information in relation to World Class Performance
athletes and other elite UK athletes, specifically injury and illness histories and treatments.
The System has been implemented and subsequently improved as a result of a lengthy
consultancy process with senior medical staff from NGBs and the Home Country Institutes
as a result of which the benefits of a centralised electronic medical records system were
clearly identified and advocated.
The core purpose of the System is to enable authorised Institute, NGB and other medical
staff to provide more effective clinical management to elite athletes and to enhance the
communication between sports medicine practitioners working across the UK and abroad.
The System is a web-based tool facilitating enhanced communication between relevant
authorised NGB, Institute and athletes’ personal sports medicine practitioners (including
doctors and physiotherapists) to enable them to access up-to-date medical information
regarding elite athletes.
Information gathered during medical consultations will be placed on InjuryZone unless you
object.
IOC Medical Code, January 2006
England Hockey will ensure that our doctors and other medics work within the broad
guidelines laid out in the IOC Medical Code which was adopted as of January 2006 and can
be viewed and downloaded from the IOC website. This code is of general and broad
application and covers much of the same issues as are set out above and also covers some of
the basic obligations of any doctor. In this way it repeats standards that are already
applicable under the law and medical ethics codes governing our practitioners. The code
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cannot be seen as a legally binding document as we feel it is too general, but it is a very
useful statement of the ethical and legal principles governing the medical treatment of
athletes.
January 2007
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