Table 3.

Themes and subthemes

Refined themes	Subthemes
1. Roles believed to be key to being an SEM clinician	1(a) Demonstrate clinical leadership (7) 1(b) Expert in MSK medicine (15) 1(c) Perform MSK ultrasound (15) 1(d) Provide physical activity (PA) education (10)
2. Services SEM clinics can offer that would provide the most value to the NHS	2(a) Management of MSK injuries (acute and chronic) (15) 2(b) Management of concussion (11)
3. Sources that SEM clinics receive referrals from (not included in full as deemed not relevant to study objective)	3(a) A&E (8) 3(b) GP (14) 3(c) Physiotherapists (13) 3(d) Orthopaedics (10)
4. Clinicians’ recognise there are common barriers to setting up an SEM clinic	4(a) Resistance from management (8) 4(b) Conflict with other specialities (9) 4(c) Lack of awareness of the speciality (15)
5. Learning points for setting up SEM clinics (from Q7b only asked to SEM consultants and registrars (n=6))	5(a) Increasing awareness of SEM (6) 5(b) Meeting with the ‘right’ influencers (4)

In brackets is the number of participants that mentioned the sub-theme.

A&E, accident and emergency; GP, General practitioner; MSK, musculoskeletal; NHS, National Health Service; SEM, sport and exercise medicine.