3. “Government mandate UK Sport to take a governance role in assuring that all sports it funds raise awareness on the dangers of concussion effectively.”
The Government agrees with this recommendation. We will work with UK Sport and Sport England to explore how to ensure sports in receipt of public funding make use of the new set of shared concussion protocols which are to be produced. It will be left to sports to decide how best to approach this, taking into account their understanding of the likelihood and incidence of head injury in their sports, but we would encourage the use of the shared protocols the Government intends to commission (see recommendation 8). We would also recommend that sports funded by UK Sport take advantage of the expertise and resources of the English Institute for Sport and home nations equivalents where appropriate.
By way of background, UK Sport does not have a regulatory role in its relationship with Olympic and Paralympic Sports. However, a large part of UK Sport’s investment into sports’ programmes includes medical provision and medical practitioners. Sports must submit information about all aspects of medical support and provision, including concussion as part of their funding applications to UK Sport.
UK Sport also invests a significant amount of funding for medical services in the English Institute of Sport to ensure that our athletes receive first-class medical support and care. The English Institute of Sport follows an initial general protocol for all athletes who may suffer a concussion event. Management of this concussion will become more tailored to the individual protocols of the sport as their recovery process develops.
British Cycling has introduced a clinical governance committee to oversee athletes’ medical teams and report to the Boards of their National Governing Bodies on medical matters, including concussion, where appropriate. We will encourage other sports to consider similar approaches over the course of the current Olympic/Paralympic cycle.
4. “A more precautionary approach is taken and a greater proportion of the money spent on elite sport is focussed on protecting the athletes. Also recommend that UK Sport fund a chief medical officer to attend events, like the Olympics.”
The Government agrees in part with this recommendation. The Government believes that the welfare of athletes should be of paramount importance, and that sports in receipt of public funding should look to lead the way in upholding the highest standards around safety and wellbeing. This includes a focus on prevention of injury wherever possible, while recognising that risk is an inherent element of many sporting activities.
UK Sport funding agreements with national governing bodies of sport already include requirements around ensuring the protection of athletes. For example, all funded governing bodies have an obligation to ensure that sports science and sport medicine are integrated into their strategies and to have a demonstrable system for identifying and managing physical and mental health problems. We will look to strengthen the requirements on a consistent basis as protocols are developed and implemented and research allows for translatable programming.
The English Institute of Sport employs a Director of Medical Services, who is responsible for standard setting and clinical governance matters of both medicine and physiotherapy service provision to those Olympic and Paralympic sports that buy into EIS services. The Director of Medical Services does not automatically attend major sporting events like the Olympics and Paralympics, as the provision of medical services for Team GB or Paralympics GB are the responsibility of the British Olympic Association (BOA) and British Paralympic Association (BPA) respectively. Consequently, the BOA and BPA ensure that there is adequate medical provision for UK athletes, and this does not necessitate the additional presence of a UK Sport-funded Chief Medical Officer.