As the first national register of complementary therapists is set up in Britain, Sylvia Thompsonasks would a register serve the public well here?
LAST WEEK, the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) in Britain opened a voluntary register for complementary therapists.
The register, which will include contact details for massage therapists, nutritional therapists, aromatherapists, homeopaths, reflexologists and others, will allow the public to choose practitioners who have been vetted by an independent registration body.
Therapists will have to pay stg £45 a year to join the register and use its quality mark.
The new register was welcomed by the Minister of State for Health in Britain, Ben Bradshaw. “Members of the public who use these therapies will be able to check whether the practitioner they are seeing is registered with the CNHC.
“If they are, they have the reassurance of knowing that they have had to meet minimum standards of qualifications and that they have signed up to a rigorous code of conduct,” he says. “Practitioners too will benefit by increased public confidence,” he adds.
With an increasingly diverse range of complementary healthcare practitioners in this State, would such an independent register of complementary medicine practitioners serve the Irish public well?
The National Consumer Agency (NCA) believes so.
“We would welcome any service or organisation that would provide a centralised resource on complementary therapies which would make life easier for consumers rather than the whereby consumers have to look at different registers for different therapies,” a spokeswoman for the NCA says.
The 2006 Department of Health funded report from the National Working Group on the Regulation of Complementary Therapists remains the guide for the registration and regulation of complementary therapists in Ireland.
It recommended that complementary therapists establish registers in professional organisations which would set out strict minimum training standards, codes of ethics and continual professional development for members.
It also encouraged distinct associations of therapists within the same broad area (eg acupuncture and Chinese medicine, yoga) to set up federations which could then represent the therapy at national level.
The ultimate aim was – and still is – to make it easier for the public to find a complementary therapist whose qualifications and professional standards they could trust.
So, has this approach worked? Well, it depends on who you talk to. A significant number of complementary therapists are now registered with professional organisations but, by its very nature, voluntary self-regulation is exactly that – voluntary – and it’s really up to clients to check whether their chosen therapist belongs to a professional body or not.
Tracking people down to specific registers can still be a problem.
The Irish Society of Homeopaths (ISH) represents about 300 registered homeopaths practising in the Republic.
“We have absolute confidence in our regulatory standards and all our registered members are trained to recognised European standards, insured and adhere to a strict code of ethics,” says Sheelagh Behan, spokeswoman for the ISH.
In terms of the public knowing about the ISH, Behan says that the society has a website and runs regular information campaigns on homeopathy.
“We would welcome a register similar to that set up in the UK provided that the standards of registration were strictly adhered to and that they were of a high standard and that the process was transparent,” says Behan.
However, like all professions regulated by voluntary self-regulation, homeopaths don’t have protection of title, so those with little or no qualifications can still set themselves up as homeopaths. In that context, a national register of all self-regulated complementary therapists would represent an easier checking system for members of the public.
The aforementioned National Working Group recommended that practitioners of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and western medical herbalists should have statutory regulation.
These complementary therapies were deemed to be of higher risk to the public due to the use of needles placed directly into the skin and the use of various forms of herbal medicines.
Caoimhe McGlinchey is the chairwoman of the Acupuncture Foundation Professional Association.
“Acupuncturists are currently meeting every month so that we can agree a common code of practice and set up a federation of acupuncturists this year,” she explains.
“In the long term, we are looking towards statutory regulation as recommended by the National Working Group but in the short term, we will continue to have self-regulation.”
Osteopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists and herbal medicine practitioners will not be on the UK Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council register because they have, or are also seeking, statutory regulation.
In the Republic, osteopaths and chiropractors are applying for statutory regulation as allied healthcare professionals and for that reason, they were not part of the Irish National Working Group on the Regulation of Complementary Therapies.
Statutory regulation includes protection of title and offers the public protection under a legal framework.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Children says the Department of Health continues to support greater voluntary self-regulation for all complementary therapists.
“The establishment or funding of a [national] register is not currently under consideration by this department,” she says. “Practical issues for consideration in the establishment of such a register would include specific definitions of each therapy and profession and the scope of practice.
“The current fragmentation of the complementary therapy market [here] complicates that. Progress and development in the area of voluntary self-regulation will continue to be the current focus of the department prior to any consideration of the establishment of a national voluntary register of complementary therapists.”