Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council launch

[pscreamingheagle08]

Anyone registered with this organisation? My OH saw it announced on the BBC News this morning - he wondered how many members of the public will be put off contacting therapists if they can't find their name on this new register. He also said that some people listening may not have heard the phrase 'government backed', and actually think it means government 'run'.

 

[sledge250672]

For now it's only massage therapists and nutritional therapists. Other therapies will be added during the year. And of course, you're not automatically registered with your professional body. You have to pay. In the first year it's £30 for your first therapy and £10 per additional therapy for the first year (up to a maximum of £60), then in subsequent years it's £30 for your first therapy and £5 per additional therapy.

Not that I mind paying if it's going to mean weeding out the charlatans. I just wonder how much it's going to end up like the NHS Directory.

 

[????? ??x??? l?c?? ?????]

Hi All,

Does anyone know where this directory will be published, i.e. online or printed and distributed to GPs etc?

Also I was very annoyed to hear the BBC's Dr Rosemary Leonard refer to complementary therapies as "quackery".

I think the fees are a bit steep, although I'll probably end up paying it. I feel that once you have been validated by your professional body the fee should be a flat rate to cover all your therapies.

Wesam

 

[cigarley]

I heard that the payment will be £45 but in order to be 'officially' acknowledged more than willing to pay although, as you say, if you are recognised by your professional body why should you, but I guess they have to cover themselves and clients or is this just another way of making money out of us?
bluebella

 

[Back Fade]

Here's the news story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7828593.stm

The article looks like scaremongering to me and makes it look like there are no regulatory bodies in place already. What about Embody, FHT, CMA etc that most of us are with.

I guess I will have no choice but to register to avoid losing potential new clients. It will be interesting to see how many people check the register before contacting a therapist.

The broken rib incident would have happened because the therapist may not have a good one and not because they were not regulated.

I'm interested to know if any of the top people with the various bodies we are already with have made comments. It always seems that the sceptics of complementary therapies get their voices heard.

 

[She.]

My understanding is that Embody etc are professional bodies, so while they do offer reassurance to the public that members have a certain level of training/experience their main function is to work in the interests of the practioners. A regulatory body is there for the interest of the public.

 

[Buck]

Hi guys, as many of you who read my postings will know, I am very 'PRO' regulation, so this article on the BBC is great news!

I have been involved in CNHC, through my work with the General Council for Massage Therapies, and I can say that the CNHC is the way forward for CAM.

All the forward thinking Professional Associations such as CThA, FHT, STO, ISRM....im not going to mention any others as its a long list, belong to CNHC, so you will be hearing news on this in the near future. I can also state that the Professional Associations have worked hard to make sure that the new registration fees are kept as low as possible.

There has been so much work behind the scenes, revolving around this, and its so good to see it come to fruition.

The standards in CAM have for too long been hit and miss, and this new body will ensure that those on its register are properly qualified and insured, and will deal with those incompetent therapists that give us all a bad name.

At STO we are advising all our members to join the new register, and all the Professional Associations such as FHT etc will have their own way of processing their own members.

I think all genuine CAM practitioners should be very happy with this news today!

 

[seek513]

Does that limit the number of therapies that anyone can offer to 4, or do they mean that the total charge is £60 however many therapies you register?

 

[New in]

it will be the total charge. The therapies you can register will be those on the CHNC list, which are, in effect, the ones who's professional associations have worked with them.

 

[nomi_887]

Has anyone seen this?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7828593.stm

If you haven't, I suggest you do!

What do people think?

 

[vvecnuaoijfikrerv]

Have a look at this thread...

http://www.massageplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=61276

Myarka

 

[Lindsay G]

Thank you.

 

[Ngypsmqelaqgf]

I've just had a quick look... a bit annoying they want people to register voluntarily, yet pay £45 for the privelege? From the link:

" It will not judge clinics on whether therapies are effective, but rather on whether they operate a professional and safe business.
To get on to the government-backed register, therapists will have to show they have the right training and experience, abide by a code of conduct and ensure they have insurance in place."

If it is a case of just having these three things, training, code of conduct and insurance, then I don't have too much issue with this.

It's quite scary that the CNHC presume that about half of therapists would not make it on the register for lack of these things? I'm guessing there is another agenda and list of tick-boxes therapists will have to meet, that has not been made public yet?


One person in the article seems to assume that within a year, all people will be checking the register online to choose therapists... but I'm not convinced this will be the case, there are already a lot of regulatory bodies out there who register therapists and ensure they maintain standards of practice... if I was looking for a massage therapist I would check the GCMT, if I wanted some reiki I would look up the UK reiki Federation, etc etc. It does worry me that one government body will be trying to regulate ALL therapists and therapies?

 

[Ray L]

As has been pointed out there is a difference between a regulator whose role is generally protection of the public and a professional association. Remember at the moment this is voluntary regulation which is not actually that useful to the public. I am not convinced that the public will automatically check the online register with the regulator at least for a while and there are those who do not have access if it is only available online.

As a nurse as well as a complementary therapist I also pay fees to the Nursing and Midwifery Council to protect the public from me should I do something I should be ashamed of and trade union/professional fees to the Royal College of Nursing to defend, support and help educate me. As such I don't have a problem understanding the split nor did I have a problem with CPPD/CPD as I already do it anyway in order to re-register as a nurse. As far as I am aware no member of the public has ever checked that I am registered with the NMC, my employer does that I'm told and my patients assume that all is well or I wouldn't be doing the job.

Ok so that may not help but at the moment I wouldn't stress. What will be a shame is that there will be therapists who more than make the grade who feel unable to continue due to these increasing costs especially if at these rates regulation becomes compulsory. Then the industry and the public has lost because of yet another ill thought out venture from the powers that be.

 

[kitty tabitha needs a hug]

hi George,
im not sure if this posting will get moved, but I will answer anyway.

This is the first government backed regulatory body for CAM in the UK. Yes there are already bodies such as GCMT, which have on their council, Professional Associations such as FHT etc etc. It is the councils such as GCMT, and their Professional Associations that have been advising CNHC, and it is to these bodies that CNHC goes for information on qualifications etc.

There are many therapists opposed to regulation, but in this case, it is regulation which has been brought about by the leading professional associations in CAM, so therapists should not worry.

Obviously there is cost involved, which is inevitable, which may put some people off, but I do think its a price worth paying.

When CNHC states that half of the therapists working in the UK wont make it onto the register, it is because there are so many uninsured and unqualified people working as therapists. It will hopefully see the end of qualifications such as some of those offered by BSY, SNHS and the like that do not meet any standard for practising, yet state that they are practitioner qualifications. If you take such a course then you wouldnt be allowed to register with CNHC and rightly so.

At STO, we deal with sports massage and sports therapy qualifications, and the amount of people who request membership with some of these distance learning quals, is untrue, and we have to refuse them. It is these that wont be able to practice under the CNHC banner.

I feel with the government backing (its not a government run body), and with the amount of publicity it will create (and already has in one day), it will put CAM into the realms of the public, where no Professional Association has been able to before now.

 

[crazi3 c]

I have been forwarded this link today by the people I am contracted to work for in the NHS - however my professional associations have not directed its membership to join and until I hear otherwise from them I will not be joining.

As has been said above all of these professional fees add up - I already pay an annual subscription to two associations one for aromatherapy and the other reflexology - as well as paying my insurance.

Whilst I think regulation is a good idea I know for a fact that last year both my aromatherapy and reflexology associations walked out of negotations on an umbrella body because the board consisted of laypersons who had no knowledge of therapies per se.

Binah
x

 

[Jellicious]

hi Earthbabe, nursing is a long established profession, and no one can claim to be a nurse if they arent, whereas anyone can call themselves a CAM practitioner, regardless of if they have trained or not.

I certainly do not think this has been an ill thought out venture. I and lots of my colleagues have attended meeting after meeting, at our own time and expense, to make sure it has not been an ill thought out venture. Believe me, as Professional Associations we have made sure that our members are going to be getting the best from this.

Unfortunately there is going to be cost involved, but I firmly believe that they will not impact too hard on those who register.

Today alone, I have had people call me to ask what this regulation is, and clients in my own clinic have mentioned it.

With the amount of work the CNHC will be doing, therapists registered with them will benefit.

 

[Janitza]

hi Binah,
I do know that reflexology decided not to join, as certain members of that profession decided to set up their own 'CAM regulatory body', that in my opinion is a sham. It is completely unprofessional, and quite frankly pointless.

Obviously all therapists have to make their own decisions, and I hope that CNHC can get all professions on board.

 

[robertsechenfen]

I do not see why it could be called a "sham" or "completely unprofessional"- you are using extremely emotive words, - if reflexologists and other groups such as reiki practitioners and aromatherapists, set up their own umbrella body, it is a matter of choice for individuals to join if they wish whatever association that they feel is most appropriate. After all having a choice is healthy and gives therapists and the general public options.

If therapists don't make it onto the CNHC register it doesn't automatically mean that they have insufficient qualifications, are not insured, and do not undertake CPD training. It could just mean that they don't want to be part of the CNHC because it is an additional unnecessary cost, duplicating the amount they pay to their regulating body in my instance the IFA or ISPA as an aromatherapist, who already carry out a very similar role and already have a well respected reputation for excellence.

As I said before until I get the go ahead from my associations, who are looking into this matter in greater detail than I can at the moment, I will opt out.

Binah

 

[Bulpbrierie]

hi Binah,
I said it is a sham as I have first hand experience of the organisation, and having been dealt with in a completely unprofessional way, came to that conclusion.

They are indeed highly emotive words, but when you pay an organisation, which takes your money, then doesnt contact you, and then you cant get a response to over a dozen emails and telephone calls, and over a month later have to get a refund by Paypal, only to then receive a phone call, I think I can say it is a sham and unprofessional.

If this was the true regulatory body for CAM, then I would have left the industry, before it collapsed around me.

As it is, we are now in the safe hands of CNHC, and I for one, am extremely happy about that.