Despite recommendations last May for statutory regulation of complementary therapists, the area remains unregulated. Sylvia Thompsonreports.
Complementary therapists have a long history of being an unregulated sector treating patients outside the mainstream healthcare system. This meant that people attending complementary therapists had no idea whether their therapist was adequately trained and professionally competent to treat them.
Therefore, when Minister for Health Mary Harney launched the Report of the National Working Group on the regulation of complementary therapists last May, it was a significant step forward for the public.
Key recommendations of the report included developing statutory regulation for an estimated 400 acupuncturists, herbalists and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and developing voluntary self-regulation for all other complementary therapists.
Other recommendations included the publication of an information booklet for the public and the setting up of a forum for dialogue between the complementary and conventional medical sectors.
The report also recommended that the Department of Health co-ordinate work days for various complementary therapy groups so that they could begin to regulate the sector.
Since May, there has been no advance on any of the recommendations of the report, apart from the preliminary efforts to organise work days to enable therapy groups to get their houses in order.
Teri Garvey, who acted as chairwoman of the Working Group, recently agreed to be the facilitator of these work days. "Our aim now is to get common [training and professional practice] standards within therapies including common codes of ethics, information to the public via websites and insurance schemes," she says.
"Then we'll have other days to decide on education courses and their external validation through the Higher Education and Training Awards Council [ HETAC] or the Further Education and Training Awards Council [ FETAC]."
Setting up externally validated courses for therapies such as Chinese medicine and homeopathy is a crucial part of establishing good professional standards.
Various therapy groups (in some cases, there are three or more societies or associations representing one type of therapy) must also form federations so the public can access clear information about therapists' qualifications.
Acupuncturists and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners are one group of complementary therapists who have been working hard to set professional standards. In June, Mary Harney launched the Traditional Chinese Medicine Council of Ireland/Acupuncture Council which represents 500 practitioners. The public can now access contact details of these therapists via the web.
Judith Ashton, president of the Irish Massage Therapy Association (IMTA), which has over 600 members, says the association is looking at raising the minimum training standards required for membership: "We have recently appointed a research officer who will examine the role of massage in Ireland. There is a need for massage therapists to be recognised as professionals in their field.
"Massage is one of the therapies that is becoming integrated into mainstream medicine but a lot of people are still working on a voluntary basis in hospices and cancer support centres."
The immediate setting-up of a forum for dialogue between the complementary and conventional medical sectors was another recommendation of the National Working Group.
Dr Brian Kennedy, GP and homeopathic physician, believes this "bridge-building" exercise is important. "I spoke recently to a group of medical students who didn't know anything about the working group's report," he says.
"They felt ill-informed and confused about the complementary therapy sector. I think a conference celebrating the achievements of complementary therapies in medical settings would be useful.
"I also think it would be great to have a module on complementary therapies for medical students, pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists and psychologists so that they could have a conceptual introduction to the integrated healthcare model," he says.
Garvey says she would like to see more integration between the complementary therapies and conventional medicine: "What's essential now is the federation of therapies. This is the best protection for the public."