Sports doctors' resuscitation skills under examination—additional facts

The football club doctor system EDITOR,-I read with interest the paper by Waddington et al 1 highlighting the inadequacies of the football club doctor system in Britain.This paper confirms the situation that many people already knew to exist.Advertisements for club doctors are rarely published in medical journals, doctors normally being appointed on a "who you know" basis.It is also particularly disappointing that, at a time when the specialty of sports and exercise medicine is being established in this country, the majority of doctors working with professional footballers have no qualifications or little experience in the specialty.However, this is not confined to football clubs and probably also applies to rugby clubs and many other sporting associations.One aspect not mentioned in the paper is medical litigation.It is to be hoped that doctors involved with football clubs have arranged medical defence cover, because, if a situation arises in which a player's sporting career is threatened by medical mismanagement and the doctor involved has no professionally recognised sports medicine qualification, he or she could be found guilty of medical negligence.With the amount of money involved in professional football, this could lead to dire consequences for the medical career of the practitioner involved.From a report commissioned by the Football League on the Hillsborough tragedy, the concept of the "crowd doctor" was introduced, meaning that any doctor involved in the medical care of the crowd at a football stadium would be required to possess at least the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care. 2 Before that, the situation was similar to that of the present club doctor system, and few doctors held any recognisable qualifications or training in medical emergencies and resuscitation.A similar recommendation by sports medicine authorities is required to enhance the quality of service provided to football clubs and increase the stature of the specialty.However, it is not a one sided situation.Football clubs must realise the importance of a medical team in looking after their prime assets, the players.Advertising of jobs in medical journals, insisting on experience and qualifications, adequate remuneration, and the provision of job descriptions and contracts should all be implemented.By working together to improve the current situation, a service can be provided in which both professional football players and the medical profession can have confidence.