GAA seek to revisit injury cover

GAELIC GAMES:A DISAGREEMENT has developed within the GAA over the termination of physiotherapy cover for players except in post-operative circumstances. The move was recently taken by the association's insurance work group as one of a number of measures designed to address a deficit of around €1 million in the injury scheme's funding.

“It was purely a decision of the insurance group to pull physiotherapy,” according to Dr Danny Mulvihill, chair of the GAA’s Medical, Scientific and Welfare committee. “We had some brief meetings with them about it over recent months but we didn’t really get any significant input into the decision. It’s something that we’re trying to revisit.”

Mulvihill said that he hoped to meet with GAA president Christy Cooney in the near future to discuss the matter from the medical and welfare perspective. He also accepted that concerns had arisen within the association about insufficiently monitored access to physiotherapy and the associated costs.

Problems also arose when the demarcation line between the costs of serious injuries and more routine ailments eroded with the discontinuation in 2003 of the players’ voluntary insurance scheme, which was intended to cover the latter but which failed to attract sufficient subscription amongst players.

“Over time things have got a bit muddied along the way,” said Mulvihill. “When the injury scheme started as far as I understand it, it was to fund serious injuries but it’s come over the years to fund physiotherapy of all descriptions – physiotherapy being a catch-all phrase for a various treatments that contribute to the well being of players and prevention of injuries.”

A Croke Park spokesperson said, however, that the current scheme’s losses had made it imperative that measures be introduced to address the deficit.

“Our position is that the injury scheme is losing more than a million and the situation needed review.

“The options were: retain the physio cover and simply raise registration costs for the clubs or remove the cover and let the clubs look after the cost of physiotherapy.

“Supervised at national level the scheme had become very loose. There is strong anecdotal evidence that players who have picked up injuries playing other sports or at least during activity that is not Gaelic games-related have been claiming under the GAA scheme.

“To an extent you can’t blame clubs. Players get treatment and the bill goes to Croke Park. The controls aren’t as tight as they would be if the local club was monitoring it and there’s no reason to believe that players in need of treatment won’t continue to receive it through their clubs or counties.”

According to a statement released the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP) the cost saving is illusory and contrary to best practice.

“Physiotherapy intervention in the diagnosis, treatment and management of injuries is a cost-saving as physiotherapy aids players make a prompt recovery and facilitates not only the return to sports activity, but also a speedy return to everyday tasks including work.

“Secondly, the inclusion of only post-operative physiotherapy promotes the option of surgery over the avoidance of surgery. The ISCP maintain that current evidence-based sports medicine research emphasises that surgery is the last option in the management of the vast majority of sports injuries.

“International sports medicine best practice strongly supports the finding that in the vast majority of injuries, all non-surgical treatment and rehabilitation measures such as physiotherapy, should be exhausted prior to the final option of surgery.”

According to the official figures, cutting the physiotherapy cover would have recouped 60 per cent of the GAA’s losses in 2009, as it cost €600,000 last year. The cost of the scheme has been climbing steadily in recent years from €6.4 million in 2006 to €9.2 million three years later.

Mulvihill’s view is that the expenditure on the scheme should be reconsidered in its entirety and not simply by targeting cuts at one area.