EHFA's Technical Experts Group met in London on 5 July 2011 to begin standards work on three population groups: older adults, children and adolescents, and exercise referral. The association reported the meeting as the kick-off for each of the three groups.
A technical experts group was how the association's standards were actually written. The Standards Council recruited the members against published criteria: at least three years of training and practical experience in the field concerned, a background in vocational training or a relevant degree, two references from recognised experts, and a working command of English. Each group reported its progress to the council, and its drafts went out to the whole membership for consultation. Nothing became a standard until a general assembly had ratified it by resolution, which is why the standards carry the date of an assembly rather than of a drafting meeting.
The three subjects had something in common. The standards already in place described work with generally healthy adults; older adults, children and adolescents, and participants referred by a doctor or a nurse each need something more specific, and the level 3 and level 4 standards for those groups were where the framework had to show a basis in evidence rather than in convention. Exercise referral made the point most sharply, since the instructor's work there sits alongside clinical care and has to be legible to another profession. See the Technical Experts Group and current standards.