Establishing a pattern for sports medicine centres in Scotland.

The Scottish Sports Council established a consultative group on sports medicine and sports sciences in November 1983 under the chairman of Professor Peter Radford. The consultative group consists of individuals representing a wide range of interests in sport, medicine, the related sports sciences and coaching. One of the principle responsibilities of the consultative group was to encourage the development of a network of sports medicine centres throughout Scotland, from a base of seven sports injury clinics which existed in 1983. It has drawn up guidelines for establishing a sports medicine centre, developed a starter pack of basic equipment and made computerised medical and physiotherapy records available to help new centres get off the ground. The consultative group has worked closely with the local Sports Councils throughout Scotland and a total of 25 sports medicine centres have been established (see Figure 1). These are in a wide variety of locations but principally in local authority sports or leisure centres. One has recently moved into the physiotherapy department of a hospital, to the mutual benefit of both sports medicine and the hospital physiotherapy department. The expanding network in Scotland would not have been possible without the active involvement of local authority recreation departments and local sports councils. These organisations have seen it as an essential part of their remit to provide services for injured sportsmen and women. These 25 sports medicine centres do not provide the sole provision of