Idea 8: Make the group open to non-physios (2 mins)

Every day during September we will post up an idea for you to vote on.  The most popular ideas will become the things that the inaugural Organizing Committee of the Critical Physiotherapy Network focuses on in 2015.  So please make sure you cast your vote at the bottom of each post.

From the outset, this group has been about developing a critical attitude towards physiotherapy.  We’re a small organization, just finding our feet, and it’s made sense for us to start modestly – not wanting to take on too much and risk losing our focus.  Besides, physiotherapy is so far away from being a diverse, inclusive, critically-conscious profession that we could work solidly for the next 20 years and only make a small impression on what needs to happen in the profession to make it truly responsive to the needs of 21st century health care.  So it makes sense for us to be an network of physiotherapists interested in physiotherapy.

But our nascent organization has already drawn some interest from people outside the profession.  The truth is, there aren’t as many critical health organizations as you might think, and it’s not only sections of the physiotherapy profession that are feeling frustrated with the direction their professions are taking.  We already have very eminent researchers and thinkers like Karen Whalley Hammell and Professor Kath McPherson ‘involved’ in the group, with the prospect of others keen to join too.  So we could very quickly grow in size (and possibly influence) by opening the network up to others, who would bring different experience and perspectives to bear.

So should the group confine itself to being just about physiotherapy and keep it’s more modest focus?  Or should it become something bigger and be a more inclusive group whose focus becomes about issues beyond the confines of the physiotherapy profession?

Send us your vote, and maybe a comment too.

Post update: please note that voting closed on 7 October 2014 (results are available here), but please feel free to post your comments in the space below.