Dear all

WINTER 2022-23 ISRM E-NEWSLETTER

I am delighted to let you know that the winter 2022-23 ISRM e-Newsletter is now finally live. My very grateful thanks once again to all contributors.

LONDON MARATHON EVENT WORK

Applications to volunteer to provide post-race event STT at the 2023 London Marathon on SUNDAY 23^rd APRIL are open on the ISRM event work web page (login to your account). We ideally need approx. 90 people, so please do register if you possibly can. 

PLEASE ONLY APPLY VIA THE WEBSITE PAGE AND NOT
BY REPLYING TO THIS MESSAGE, THANK YOU.

Thank you all very much in advance

Tanya Ball

Dear Member

We know that many of our therapists are getting cancellations and reduced booking due to client's fears about Covid. Many of you are already reaching out to your clients to reassure them but if you havn't thoght about this yet maybe now is a good time.

Here is a suggeted text you can use or adapt to suit your own situation.

Send this to your clients, put it on your website, Facebook page and Blog.

We need to spread the work for the benefit of us all.

Thank you and good luck

Mel

Dear Member

The attached Guidance document we sent out yesterday had some hyperlink errors. Olease see the corrected version attached here.

Thank you

ISRM

ISRM Guidance Roadmap Stage 4

Immediate Change Note

This immediate change note follows the English Government move to stage 4 of the roadmap. There will be a further update in August following further changes that will be made by the devolved administrations. At this point we shall update the full suite of ISRM COVID documentation.

As the country opens-up and restrictions are lifted, the legal requirement for wearing face coverings is no longer enforceable in law in England.

However, as an ISRM members we shall continue to act professionally. We all have a legal duty of care towards your clients and a moral duty to your family, friends and the wider community. For this reason, the IRSM recommends the following processes shall be followed.

Remember the virus had not gone away we are still in a global pandemic.

Pre appoint covid screening remains with 2 additions.

Although not formally recognised it is well documented that the DELTA variant has slightly different symptoms. Check if you client has a sore throat or symptoms of a common cold. We appreciate as we move into autumn this could become problematic.

Foreign travel – simply ask if they should be isolating following overseas travel.

Type II face coverings to be worn by the therapist, face covering to be worn by the client.

Maintain room ventilation.

Clean towels couch covers for each client

Maintain hand washing / hand sanitising regime.

Maintain room cleanliness regime.

Continue to perform Lateral Flow Tests (recommended twice weekly)

There is no requirement to wear gloves, apron or a visor.

Although careful thought is required, clients can wait in the waiting room.

Additional equipment can be brought into the treatment room, however, please do not over clutter.

Test and Trace – Isolation Requirements

When the guidance was published to restart work earlier this year vaccine take up was low. In addition, there was very little scientific evidence on how effective the vaccine would be. At the ISRM we are continuously reviewing data, government legislation and guidelines. At this stage we can change our guidance.

 If you are told to isolate by Test and Trace, you must stop work and isolate.

If a member of your household is told to isolate but has no symptoms you may continue to work provided that:

You have been double vaccinated, and your second vaccine was over 2 weeks ago.

You shall perform lateral flow tests daily.

Your work premises are separated from your home.

If you are mobile, you should not enter a household where someone is isolating.

Dear ISRM Members,

 We are aware that this evening certain Professional Associations and the CNHC have changed their advice regarding level 4 & 5 therapists working during this national lockdown.  

The ISRM’s position is that nothing has changed since we delivered our latest guidance on 4th January, and as such our members should not provide face to face appointments at this time.

As a Professional Association we exist to represent the best interests of our members for their studies and their businesses.   We also have a public duty to take account of the health of our members, their clients and the community at large.  We take this duty extremely seriously.

In order to provide our members with as much background to our decision as possible, we will share the below, which shows how legislation and Government guidance interact;

Legislation  (Remaining the same as November) 

You Must Stay At Home, except where noted below

Exception 4: medical need 

(7) Exception 4 is that it is reasonably necessary for Persons to leave or be outside Their home—

(a) to seek medical assistance, including to take any medical tests, be vaccinated or access any of the services referred to in paragraph 17 of the Schedule;

Paragraph 17: dental services, opticians, audiology services, chiropody, chiropractors, osteopaths and other medical or health services, including services which incorporate personal care services and treatments required by those with disabilities and services relating to mental health,

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020

Guidance (updated 6th January)

Close Contact Service Must Close  

This includes hairdressers, barbers, beauticians, tattooists, sports and massage therapists, dress fitters, tailors and fashion designers

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/close-contact-services?fbclid=IwAR1nGAWopsAj9WyXzfrzQeioL6vMuGJNKpVXu6bAyinrItEpMMfo7FzM7VE#national-lockdown

Relationship between Legislation & Guidance (Directly quoted from the Government)

To find out exactly what the rules are during the coronavirus pandemic, you need to look at both legislation and government guidance. Legislation sets out legal obligations and restrictions that are enforceable by law. If you do not abide by the legislation you are breaking the law. Guidance and advice is likely to be based on legislation (in which case it will be legally binding) and it might offer the best or most appropriate way to adhere to the law.

The law is what you must do; the guidance might be a mixture of what you must do and what you should do.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/coronavirus?fbclid=IwAR2hkuvekTPQjvFcAyY97oFsHUmDwSKUZhWRFj2vQQVQ1NjAMGrtayyi3NE

Some Figures For Consideration

When we restarted work in July, the incidence of covid in the UK was less than 1 in 1000

The November lockdown came in because infection rates were in the region of 1 in 100

As of January 6th, in England the incidence is 1 in 50 with hot spots of 1 in 30

In addition we know that the latest strain is 50% - 70% more infectious, which was not the case in November.  Our hospitals have more covid patients than at any time during the entire pandemic (30,000 as of 6th Jan). Life saving treatments are being stopped. We are at Covid-19 Alert Level 5, indicating that the NHS may be overrun within the next 21 days without significant changes. We were at Covid Alert Level 3 when we restarted in July. 

We are in Lockdown and the very clear message is;

STAY HOME, PROTECT THE NHS, SAVE LIVES

During normal times, we hope that you select the Professional Association that you want to represent you because you agree with the ethos of the association, what it stands for and how it works to progress the industry.  Now in these extraordinary times, tough decisions must be made, our ethos, our duties to our members and what we stand for in the future of Soft Tissue Therapy means we are very confident to make these tough decisions and stand by them.

Thank you once again for your support, we will get through this together

The ISRM Team

Dear Members

Following the latest update from The Government which sees more areas being put into the tougher Tier 4 we wanted to confirm that as it stands at the moment any members in Tier 4 must stop practising close contact treatments. 

The Government has been very clear in their guidance which now includes sports and massage therapies in the list of businesses required to close, this is because our profession requires us to touch people for more than 15 min in an enclosed space making us a high risk environment. 

Dear Member

Pleae see attached, the latest ISRM guidelines for the 2nd national Coronavirus lockdown for England.

Good luck and best wishes

ISRM

Dear Members

completing the guidance to ensure you can practice safely has been more difficult this time around because a balance needed to be found between different factors. 

Business is not ‘as usual’ and this should be absolutely clear. Numbers of infections are increasing exponentially and this lockdown has been introduced to control that. The Law states clearly that a person must not leave their house unless for specific exemptions. Access to Health Services is one of those exemptions.

We, as Level 4/5 when working to treat injury and pain to prevent escalation which may lead to dramatic disruption of daily life activities or lead to access to NHS services, are providing a health service and therefore we can remain open. Again as Level 4/5 we are considered autonomous practitioners as the level of your qualification implies a Clinical Reasoning skillset therefore you do not need to work underneath or having clients referred to by an AHP.

However, Massage as we know it, needs to be dramatically reduced. This is because spending a long time in a room at such close contact is increasing the risk of transmission especially while the numbers of infections are growing exponentially. When we reopened in July the numbers were down so much that the risk of having an asymptomatic individual into your clinic was very low. Now it is different, that risk has increased hence these new guidelines reflect the stricter controls put in place to mitigate such risk.

This is however an amazing opportunity we have here, we can with our colleagues osteos, chiros and Physios remain open to provide essential health services, but above all we can showcase our skills which is more than just Massage. That's the reason why Mel has devised the new qualification and term  Soft Tissue Therapy Diploma, as we have evolved as a profession not to be defined by just massage therapy. We are trained in Assessing, Treating and Rehabilitation minor and chronic musculoskeletal injuries and pain. Massage is just one part of it. What your client needs and benefits is you as a person. They may like your hands approach but YOU as a person is what makes that treatment successful. In this tough time you can be there to reassure, motivate and advise on meaningful movement

This is the time when we can demonstrate that we deserve a place around that table with the healthcare professionals.

The ISRM 

Dear Member

We are still waiting for the government to release the full details of the second national lockdown due to start on Thursday. Understandably, many of you have been contacting us for some clarification and it is extremely frustrating for us that we still cannot properly answer you. At the moment it does look like we will have to stop giving hands-on treatments and so regrettably we should prepare ourselves for this worst-case outcome.

ISRM is diligently monitoring the situation because the advice we give you must be based on legislation and not speculation. We will let you know of all developments as quickly as we possibly can.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation at this terrible time.

ISRM

Dear ISRM member

Yesterday we sent out a group email to all ISRM members with Return to Practice safety checklist. Large emails to 1200 people tends to overload our old group mailer system so if you did not receive it, or the attached file, you can now download it from the ISRM website,

https://www.theisrm.com/coronavirus.php

Thank you

Mel Cash

Return to Practice - Checkiist 17/6/20

Dear ISRM member

As we are now optimistacally getting ready to return to hands-on practice we attaching a checklist that acts as an appendix to the ISRM Preliminary Guidelines for Returning to Practice we sent out at the end of May.

This checklist supports the ISRM’s Preliminary Guidelines for Returning to Face to Face Appointments. It summarises the necessary procedures required by therapists to comply with best practice when returning to work and gives advice on what to look for when purchasing additional safety equipment for your practice.

Please note that links to products on the right hand side of the table are provided by way of example only - The ISRM has no financial interest in any of the businesses. The choice of which products to buy, and ensuring those products meet the guidelines, are the responsibility of the therapist.

We must reinforce that as yet; we have no definite date for returning to practice. However, we are working on the assumption that the Roadmap to Recovery is on track and, therefore, Stage 3 of reopening (which includes close contact businesses) will be no earlier than 4th July.

As a continued package of support, within the next two weeks we will be releasing;

* Risk Assessment Templates for you to customise and individualise for your own working environment.

* Pre-treatment Screening Form and Consultation Form templates, which will include all elements relating to Covid.

* Updated guidance on return to practice, as soon as we have more information from the Government.

We thank you for your continued sacrifice which we hope will end soon

Mel and Anna Maria

ISRM

Update 10/6/20

Dear ISRM member

We have seen that some hairdressers and beauty salons have started to announce that they will be opening on 4^th July and are now taking bookings. There is still no confirmation from the government that this will definitely happen but the Coronavirus statistics seem to be looking favourable and the government is still sounding positive. Their next main announcement will not be till later this month and if all goes well this could be just a few days before we can return to giving hands-on treatment.

So we suggest that you start preparing to re-open your practices on 4^th July, based on the preliminary guidance we released last month. But be aware that there could still be changes that may put this date back, but we strongly hope not. We will continue to keep you updates as quickly as we can and as often as necessary.

Mel Cash & Anna Maria Mazzieri

ISRM

Return to Practice (Preliminary Guidance)

ISRM is sending out this document as a PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE:

- To ensure our members can prepare and be ready for when the time comes that we can resume face to face hands-on treatments.

- To Clarify any confusion on procedures and PPE requirements for our industry for the time we reopen.

However, we want to be clear that:

- this is not a go-ahead for Face to Face treatments as this is not yet allowed.

- this is ‘preliminary’ and we expect it to change when the Government issues new guidelines.

We will issue a definitive document nearer the time which will be supported by a Risk Assessment for clinical practice and home based practice.

We hope that this preliminary guidance gives you some reassurance that when the time comes, working safely within the guidelines should not be as difficult or expensive as some of you may fear.

We are happy to try to answer any questions you may have about this now but it is also our intention to run a number of Zoom meetings with you during the build-up to our return to hands-on treatments. We can then discuss the actual situation we will be faced with then.

See attached document

Who are WE?

Some of you have asked who WE are at ISRM.

The driving force behind ISRM comes from two people, Mel Cash (me) and Anna Maria Mazzieri. I think most of you will be fairly familiar with me already and you may find out more when Matt interviews me soon on the group Facebook page he is setting up for us.

Anna Maria has become a most valued partner to me at ISRM. Although not as old as me she has still been working in our industry at the highest level for nearly 20 years. Not only a superbly gifted and passionate therapist, she also runs a busy clinic overseeing a number of therapists. She runs her own school brilliantly with courses in Exmouth and Bristol, turning out fantastic therapists. But even more than that, she has long experience with all the professional and political issues effecting our industry.

Together we have some 50 years of the broadest indepth understanding of all aspects of our profession.

Special thanks: We would like to give our very special thanks Steve McAvoy who has given us so much valuable help in developing this “Return to Practice” guidance. He had a long career in health and safety with the nuclear industry before becoming a successful soft tissue therapist through the ISRM training. His offer of help a few weeks ago was exactly what we needed and we are so grateful.

Coronavirus Update 22/5/20

Dear member

WARNING: We have heard reports of journalists contacting massage therapists to try to book hands-on treatments. We can only assume this may be with the aim of publishing an article showing that our industry is not following the government is guidelines and putting the public at risk.

Please keep up the sacrifice we are all making for the safety of ourselves, our clients, our community and now even our profession.

On its way: We are finalising our ‘Return to Work’ guidelines and expect to send them to you all next week. In the meantime, don’t be alarmed by the guidance being show on the websites of some other associations in our sector. They seem to be describing the stringent health and safety procedures needed by those working in face-to-face situation at this present time. But we will not be allowed to resume hands-on treatments until stage 3 when the risks will be lower and we are not treating sick people. So the procedures we will need to follow then will be far less stringent.

We hope you can relax and enjoy the weekend as best you can and we will be in contact again next week.

Best wishes

ISRM

Follow-up to last Update 12/5/20

Dear Member

The Prime Minister’s announcement on Sunday about opening up the economy was not as clearly defined as many were hoping and this has caused some confusion with a number of our members asking us for clarification.

The confusion is because it appears that Physiotherapists are allowed to work under “health services” and this has led some to think that we should be able to do the same, but this is not the case. Physios, Osteos and Chiros are all Statuary Regulated professions and considered Health Professions. We are part of the Complementary Healthcare profession which is not regulated by HCPC. It is unfortunate the government has used the term “health services” because this is too vague and misleading. HCPC and most other health regulated services are exempt from the closedown but massage and soft tissue therapy are not.

We are attaching the full 60-page government document “Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy” for your own inspection.

ISRM has a priority to safeguard our members and the public so we have reviewed this document very carefully. We know the difficulties it causes us and our clients if we don’t work but, together with other professional associations in our sector, we believe that at this time we must still remain closed.

The key points we have considered in making this decision are:

-There is no testing system available to ensure that an asymptomatic client or therapist is not carrying and passing on the virus.

-The Government Guidelines for professions which require "sustained contact" (personal care such as hairdressers and beauty salons) may reopen while following WITH COVID-19 SECURE GUIDELINES around 4th July at the earliest.  

-Healthcare Professions like Physiotherapy and Osteopathy are differently regulated and are considered able to provide emergency treatments. The advice for them is to only work face-to-face if absolutely necessary and with strict COVID-19 SECURE GUIDELINES which involves PPE.

Guidelines for Physiotherapists are that "they should continue to work with a Virtual first approach....this is because of the risk of virus transmission during face to face activity......Clinicians should weigh up a variety of factors ......the clinician must be able to justify that the benefits of seeing a patient face to face demostrably greater than the risks of infection transmissions". (extract taken from CSP guidelines)

-When we do return to work we will also require PPE and along with thousands of other therapists there will be a big demand for the equipment. We do not want to be in competition with the NHS in the sourcing of this equipment at the present time. 

ISRM has done a risk assessment of the profession, carefully reviewed the Government's Covid-19 Recovery Strategy Document and as a Professional Association in an unregulated industry we feel this is the best guidance for our members at this particular time, we will review the situation weekly and speak to other stakeholders to ensure a united and informed approach.

Thank you

ISRM

Dear Member

Having listened carefully to the Prime Minister’s TV broadcast on Sunday evening, the easing up of the lockdown restriction are still very minor for the time being. The only light I could see at the end of the tunnel for us was the suggestion that Massage and Soft Tissue Therapy could be opened up in July. This is still a very long wait for us, and our clients, but we must prioritise the health of our community above our own personal circumstances.

From 13^th May you can apply for a grant through the coronavirus Self-Employment income scheme:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme#eligible

Thanks to the financial support available we should all be able to survive until we are able to work again.

We are concerned that other organisation in our industry are already giving advice to their members about the health and safety practices they will need to adopt when the time comes. We worry that this advice is too early and could encourage therapists to start working too soon, before it is safe for our wider community. Also, what they show so far is all standard advice anyway.

At ISRM we want to take the time we have to think it through more thoroughly with the advice of HSE and people with expertise in health and safety. We will be coming out with a comprehensive set of guidelines in due course and in plenty of time for you all to prepare for re-starting your practice.

Webinar with James Earls on Friday 8^th May.

Judging from the feedback we have had from members, and our own impressions, this was a great success. As well as being highly informative James presented it a very relaxed, intimate and friendly way which I am sure we could all enjoy.

There were well over 400 members logged in at the start and even at the end, after 2 hours, there were still about 250 online. We are sorry that some of you were unable to log in and others lost their connection or had to leave before the end, we will see if we can sort these issues out better next time. We are in the process of getting a recording of the event online and will send the access details for this as soon as we can. 

Good luck and stay healthy. ISRM

Dear Member

After the initial trauma of the lockdown I think we are all now settling into our strange new reality. Each of us has our own unique set of personal circumstances to deal with and we hope that whatever they are you are all coping well enough with them.

There is talk and speculation about re-opening the economy and we must all be wondering where Massage and Soft Tissue Therapy will fit into this. We just have to play a waiting game to see what the government policy and guidelines will eventually be. For legal and professional reasons, we have to work within the government guidelines and until we know these it would be wrong to speculate. We are following the news as diligently as we can and will continue to give you the best advice we can, as quickly as we can.

In the meantime

We hope you have found the online techniques videos useful. Another one has just been added on the ‘Basic Principles of Rehabilitation’ and we are looking forward to adding more by other therapists very soon. We have also added a category called “Members videos that we particularly enjoy” starting off with some informative and very entertaining videos from Matt Scarsbrook. If you have any good videos that you think will benefit or entertain ISRM members then please send me a link ( mel@theisrm.com ) so we can have a look before listing them.

ISRM is going to run its first Webinar (with hopefully more to follow) on zoom on Friday 8^th May at 5pm to 7pm with James Earls titled What’s the Use of Soft Tissue? James has been a good friend of ISRM for very many years and is a highly renowned presenter and author. I am personally delighted he has offered us this webinar.

We will send details of how to join the Webinar on a separate email which will follow shortly.

ISRM Students Update 23/4/20

We are starting to hear the government talk about businesses opening up again but at the moment there is too much speculation with no firm facts to go on. The situation at this time is that our courses have been postponed and are all expected to resume as soon as possible.

It is likely that some categories of business will be able to start up sooner than others and there will be new health and safety guidelines to go with this. I expect we will get some advance warning and your school will let you know how they intend to proceed as quickly as possible. We expect to re-schedule all classes and also decide what practical safety procedures we will put in place to comply with the new guidelines.

In the meantime, I hope you are finding the online video clips helpful. I am slowly working on recording some of the talks I give during the course but it’s taking longer than I imagined for practical reasons during the lockdown. We have just uploaded the first one onto the ISRM website and is about getting the most from the written assignments. You can see it when you go into your assignments. There will be more to follow and I will keep you updated.

Thank you and good luck

Mel Cash

Coronavirus latest update from ISRM for Student members

We are all going through very a difficult time, probably stuck in our homes worrying about health, finance and the well-being of ourselves and those we care about. We want to help support our student members as best as we can but there are few options available to us at the present time. One minor but important problem we may all face is ‘boredom’ and ISRM can do something to help with this.

A lot of our qualification is already done online with the written assignments and case studies and you can certainly be getting on with these. We are very reluctant try to teach the practical hands-on techniques online because you really need the learning experience from practicing with fellow students, with the supervision and close guidance from experienced tutors. Despite the present uncertainty it is our intention to provide you with proper classroom training for the essential hands-on techniques as soon as we are safely able to and not replace this with online lessons.

However, we realise how frustrating this time is and there is something we can do. We have just uploaded onto the ISRM website, for members only, 25 online CPD courses covering all the main elements of our BTEC qualification. For those of you nearing the end of you ISRM training this will all be very useful for learning and revision. For those of you who are earlier on in your training you must be very careful if you try-out any techniques which are beyond your current point in time on your course. Only use them on fit healthy people and always use great caution.   

ALSO

Please take advantage of free Premium membership to KenHub which is a fantastic anatomy education resource.

Both these can be found on your login page at www.theisrm.com

Good luck and stay healthy

ISRM

Latest update 26/3/20

Financial support for the Self-employed during the Coronavirus crisis

We have been anxiously waiting for the Government to announce how they will support the self-employed (which most of us therapists are) and we heard some very postive news a few hours ago. Please see the attached document which has a lot of advice that we should all find helpful and reassuring.

Good luck and stay healthy

ISRM

Coronavirus latest update from ISRM

We are all going through very a difficult time, stuck in our homes worrying about health, finance and the well-being of ourselves and those we care about. We are still waiting to hear better news from the Government about financial support for the self-employed. What they are offering so far is only linked to sick-pay and Universal Credit which is less than £100 a week and this is desperately too little for us. I hope and expect that the Government will come under increased pressure to tackle the needs of the self-employed more appropriately.

We want to help support our members as best as we can but there are few options available to us at the present time. One minor but important problem we may all face is ‘boredom’ and ISRM can do something to help with this. We have just uploaded onto the ISRM website, for members only, 25 online CPD courses covering all the main elements of our BTEC qualification. We hope that you will make use of these to keep your minds stimulated and maybe to remind you of some techniques you may have forgotten.

All our members can take advantage of free Premium membership to KenHub which is a fantastic anatomy education resource. You can use the quizzes to test your knowledge and there is so much good information on this website that I am sure we can all use it to improve our knowledge.

Perhaps at the end of this crisis we may at least be slightly better therapists.

Good luck and stay healthy

ISRM

Log in to www.theisrm.com

Dear Student Member of ISRM

We have been working hard this week giving advice and support to our full members because most are self-employed working therapists who are losing their income because of the Coronavirus outbreak. We realise that some of our students are also therapists and may not be getting the same advice elsewhere, and it is something perhaps you should all consider.

As a professional association ISRM must look after your safety first therefore we need to be giving out the safest possible advice for our students, full members, their clients and the public at large. The advice we are now giving is to not treat any clients because this is the safest advice possible based on the WHO’s directive on Social Distancing. This says we should keep a 2 meter space between people to prevent infection, also avoid travelling and meeting people unless absolutely necessary. 

Remember that people can carry the virus without showing any symptoms so you just don’t know who is a carrier and who is not. And you don’t know if you yourself could be a carrier and pass it to someone who then passes it on to a more vulnerable person. So we have given out the very safest advice, but this is ‘advice’ and at the moment there is no legal requirement to follow this so you can still make your own decisions.

Insurance in not the main issue here and your insurance may still be valid in the normal way. You could be liable for damages if you infected a client with the virus because you did not follow WHO and UK Government safety guidelines. But this would be most unlikely because it would be very hard to prove that you caused their infection and hard to sue for damages if they knew the risk and still consented to treatment. However, as it is stated on the Balens website " We would like to point out that the matter is very ambiguous at this stage and we would need to see claims examples in order to fully establish how the policy would respond". Considering how serious the health consequences of infection can be we are not reassured by this statement.

We strongly believe this is about our social responsibility to protect the wider community and not whether our insurance is valid. We are putting yours and your clients health before financial considerations.

I hope you share the sentiment of the decision which reflects our ethical beliefs.

See attached document with important business advice

Good luck and stay healthy

Mel Cash

Desr ISRM Member

As a professional association ISRM must look after your safety first therefore we need to be giving out the safest possible advice for our members, their clients and the public at large. The advice we sent out yesterday to not treat any clients was the safest advice possible based on the WHO’s directive on Social Distancing. This says we should keep a 2 meter space between people to prevent infection, as well avoid travelling and meeting people unless absolutely necessary. 

Remember that people can carry the virus without showing any symptoms so you just don’t know who is a carrier and who is not. And you don’t know if you yourself could be a carrier and pass it to someone who then passes it on to a more vulnerable person. So we have given out the very safest advice, but this is ‘advice’ and at the moment there is no legal requirement to follow this so you can still make your own decisions.

Insurance in not the main issue here and your insurance may still be valid in the normal way. You could be liable for damages if you infected a client with the virus because you did not follow WHO and UK Government safety guidelines. But this would be most unlikely because it would be very hard to prove that you caused their infection and hard to sue for damages if they knew the risk and still consented to treatment. However, as it is stated on the Balens website " We would like to point out that the matter is very ambiguous at this stage and we would need to see claims examples in order to fully establish how the policy would respond". Considering how serious the health consequences of infection can be we are not reassured by this statement.

We strongly believe this is about our social responsibility to protect the wider community and not whether our insurance is valid. We are putting yours and your clients health before financial considerations.

I hope you share the sentiment of the decision which reflects our ethical beliefs.

See attached document with important business advice

Good luck and stay healthy

Mel Cash

Due to the fast changing situation with the Coronavirus outbreak and the implications for society, our client and therapists, coupled with the uncertainty of insurance policies covering ISRM members we have to escalate the advice to our members to discontinue all treatments even of those not in a high risk group.

Although a regrettable situation we feel this is best for our society and the massage community.

I think we can be encouraged by the financial support the government has announced so far. Although they have not yet said how they will help the self-employed we are expecting them to do so quite soon.

We wish you all good luck and good health during this extremely difficult time.

Mel Cash

Dear ISRM member

Please see attached document giving you our latest advice on the Caronavirus situation. We will keep you updated.

Due to the financial difficulties we are all going through we are reducing the ISRM membership fee by 50% to £25 until further notice.

Wishing us all good luck and good health

Mel