The Tasmanian Branch Council has had a busy and successful year despite tumultuous events around Australia.

We have engaged with Tasmanian group chairs to provide support and the opportunity for greater group and member feedback.

Our members’ areas of expertise cover private, public, academic and disability practice and are now geographically spread across all three regions of the state.

The council will grow in 2022, with new members Marie-Louise Bird, Andrew Butler, Libby Campbell and Connor Parke joining our established councillors Miriam Fletcher, Jayne Grubits-King, Sajina Mathew, Brice Pennicott, Chrissy Tadros and Jessie West.

We also farewell Kate Lawler, who has made a significant and valuable contribution during her term.

We are excited to welcome Brice as branch president.

Brice has professional experience in a variety of private practices in Tasmania and abroad and has previously worked full-time in a professional sport.

He held the position of Head of Medicine for a professional soccer team in the UK and oversaw the management of both the medical and the performance departments within the organisation.

He is an APA Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist and a registered member of the International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy.

He has previously held a voluntary position in the Tasmanian Branch Council of Sports Medicine Australia and joined our Branch Council and APA Sports and Exercise Committee after returning from the UK.

The Beryl Haines Memorial Grant was reinvigorated in 2020 and promoted through the APA and the professional networks of council members.

This produced a strong field of applicants and culminated in two Tasmanian researchers being awarded significant grants in 2021 to support their projects, which will result in improved care for Tasmanians.

Our annual symposium was held in Launceston in June, with Nadine Foster as keynote speaker.

This was a highlight of 2021, interspersing a field of high-calibre presenters with networking and socialising opportunities for our physiotherapy community.

Nadine had recently emigrated from the UK and travelled from Queensland, so we were very lucky to enjoy her thought-provoking and challenging presentation.

In addition to the symposium, Jane Rooney’s ‘The acute sporting knee’ course was very successful and our summer breakfast with keynote speaker David Humphries drew attention to our biases and challenged us to become better clinicians by thinking about thinking.

The Branch Council has been busy advocating on your behalf throughout 2021.

During the state election, several issues were raised, including the health workforce strategy, the need to improve community care for better Tasmanian health outcomes and encouraging innovation in Primary Health Tasmania.

We provided feedback on the government’s look at future Tasmanian healthcare requirements, supported a bid for a new aquatic centre in Hobart and hydrotherapy services in the north-west and advocated for the value of physiotherapy to the Chief Allied Health Advisor following the release of the Value of Physiotherapy in Australia report.

We also engaged with Primary Health Tasmania, with regular representation on their Allied Health Network, and met to discuss possible partnership projects.

This has been an exciting year as we prepare to celebrate the historic moment a Tasmanian physiotherapy school takes its first cohort of students in 2022.

The Branch Council has engaged with the University of Tasmania over the past two years, actively facilitating consultation and inviting university representatives to Branch Council meetings.

Finally, as I complete my term as president, I would like to thank the Branch Council for their unflagging support and hard work and the Tasmanian physiotherapy community for their support and engagement over the past two-and-a-half years.

Being an engaged member of the APA, with the connection to our community that this offers, has been invaluable as we have negotiated this incredibly challenging time.

The APA has worked tirelessly to support us and I’ve loved being a small part of that. I encourage you to get involved and enjoy the rewards on offer.