- Aromatherapy
- Aromatherapy & Sports Injuries
- How to approach practicing massage on family and friends?
- Adverse Media Hype on Tea Tree Essential Oil
- Article Guide
- How to study Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology?
- How to approach practicing massage on family and friends?
- Massage Therapy UK - Article publishing guide
- Ayurveda
- Chavutti Thirumal An Intoduction To A Unique Massage Therapy
- Removing Toxins The Natural Way
- How to approach practicing massage on family and friends?
- Bowen Technique
- Gentle Touch Produces Miracles
- How to approach practicing massage on family and friends?
- Business
- How to approach practicing massage on family and friends?
- How are You?
- On Site Massage & Complementary Therapy in the workplace
- Complementary Therapies
- Removing Toxins The Natural Way
- How to study Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology?
- Thai Yoga Massage – An Ancient Therapy for a Modern World
- Education & Training
- How to study Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology?
- The different between NHS and CAM meaning of health
- Introduction to Massage Essentials for Health
- Health
- How to study Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology?
- How to approach practicing massage on family and friends?
- Stress, and why we need massage therapies
- Health & Nutrition
- The different between NHS and CAM meaning of health
- How to approach practicing massage on family and friends?
- So why have a Personal Trainer?
- Massage
- On Site Massage & Complementary Therapy in the workplace
- What is sports massage?
- Chavutti Thirumal An Intoduction To A Unique Massage Therapy
Professional Regulation update
04/05/2008 - By Carole Preen This is an opportunistic time to update all readers on what has been happening since the launch of the Aromatherapy Council (AC) last year and to look at the work being done for a federal scheme for regulating complementary medicine as a whole.
Since the AC launched, it has received a lot of support from both the Department of Health and the NHS. In a letter from Lord Hunt's office at the Department of Health he stated that "the Department is sure that Trusts will have confidence to use the services of aromatherapists now that they have achieved voluntary self-regulation".
The AC wrote to all of the Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities and the feedback has been that many Trusts are writing in being AC Registered as part of employment criteria, which is a positive thing. We have been told for years that the reason GPs could not refer patients to aromatherapists was because it was an unregulated profession - well not anymore! As well as this activity, we have received support from NHS Direct who have included the Aromatherapy Council, and therefore AC Registered Aromatherapists, on their database, which goes out to all GP practices and hospitals. The NHS Direct website makes reference to checking that your aromatherapist is AC Registered "When choosing an aromatherapist, you should ensure that they are registered with the Aromatherapy Council" (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=957) and we have applied for a link from the new NHS Choices website. Private healthcare companies have also been supportive and recommend their customers use AC Registered Aromatherapists, even where they do not actually cover aromatherapy as a resource yet.
The Aromatherapy Council has produced two important guides that are free for aromatherapists to download from its website. One is a guide on Reflective Practice and the other, launched in August, is the guide for aromatherapists on Responsible Marketing which contains an industry standard client consultation record card. It explains to aromatherapists and the public what can and cannot be claimed on marketing literature, such as leaflets, websites, etc., to keep you working within the law, and it explains why a consultation is so important and how one should be recorded. You will find it on the news page as a PDF document at www.aromatherapycouncil.co.uk. If aromatherapists and tutors want the consultation in a word document, they should email the AC office at info@aromatherapycouncil.co.uk
The AC has also produced excellent leaflets, which registrants can have free of charge to help promote their status to local GP surgeries, health food shops and complementary health centres. We allow a registrant to receive up to 50 leaflets at any one time. We also send individual leaflets out to members of the public by request. Information can again be found on the news page of the AC's website. Finally, I would like to also make you aware of the AC's response to the MHRA consultations on the proposals for review of S12(1) of the Medicines Act. This Act is explained for you in the Responsible Marketing guide, and we would ask all aromatherapists to take part in the online survey on the news page for your views on whether you use S12(1) in your practice. Please read the AC's response to the MHRA document before you do the survey. The aromatherapy associations have been very supportive of the new regulatory body, publishing articles and referring their members to the AC.
However, despite the overwhelming support from the medical profession and the profession itself for regulation of aromatherapy (remember the associations contributed an enormous amount of money to this process), and the work the AC is doing for aromatherapists, the applications from professional aromatherapists has been rather disappointing in the first year. I have found myself wondering why this is and was especially focused after a seminar on back pain I attended through the Integrated Health Associates group facilitated by the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health. Dr Alan Jordan presented a talk on integrated practice within an interdisciplinary clinic and highlighted what complementary practitioners are poor at:
1. defining what they do and why
2. differing standards of education
3. carry out little research of significance
4. poor at self-regulation
5. poor at liaising with other healthcare professionals
Now I am sure that some of you will disagree with some of these points, but this is the perception of us. We therefore need to show that we are accountable professionals and the main way we can achieve this is through supporting voluntary self-regulation. As a large group of regulated professionals, aromatherapists will be able to have a strong voice and standardise all the things that have been hampering our progression as a therapy. There is no excuse for not applying for registration is you are serious about your profession. Aromatherapists need to wake up and smell the roses!
As well as this work, I have been attending the Federal Working Group meetings since January 2007 facilitated by the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health. The idea is that following on from the Shipman Report and the Government's response to the Fifth Report of the Shipman Inquiry; Safeguarding Patients, the Government's review of non-medical healthcare professional regulation; a report on the reform of medical regulation by the Chief Medical Officer, Good doctors, safer patients;, recommendations from the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF) (an independent advisory body set up in 1997 "to advise the Government on action to ensure that regulation and its enforcement are proportionate, accountable, consistent, transparent and targeted"); and the recent White Paper on Trust, Assurance and Safety, The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century; (phew!) we need to look at a system of regulation for the whole of Complementary Medicine that protects the public.
From a selfish multi-disciplinary practitioner's viewpoint, I rather favour a federal system of regulation as it will prevent the need for me to register with more than one therapy regulatory body and therefore save me money and effort. However, the concept of public perception is also important and they need to be assured that the therapists on the register have all met the agreed national standards for each therapy you are registered for. Complementary therapies do not harm anyone in the same way as conventional medicine could, so we need a light touch overarching regulator that protects the public but also leaves the individual therapies to govern themselves. If you look at the definition of federalism when studying federal governments, we see that it is a union comprising of a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central ("federal") government. This is found in the US and in Germany and is opposite to a unitary state, such as we have in Great Britain, which is controlled by a central unit with constitutionally created legislature. The central unit retains the powers to create or abolish sub-units. The reason I have given this boring explanation is because the Aromatherapy Council feels it is important that we have a true federal structure in place. The sub units or, in our case, therapy groups, in a federal system would retain control over their own therapies but would have one single regulatory register and one point of contact for the public. The overarching regulator will deal with generic issues and certainly deal with complaints where local resolutions have failed. It has to protect the public and yet still be affordable and uncomplicated for practitioners to join. Federalism can be seen as a compromise between the extreme concentration of power and a loose confederation of independent states for governing a variety of people usually in a large expanse of territory (e.g. therapists within complementary medicine). Federalism has the virtue of retaining local pride, traditions and power (pride in individual therapies), while allowing a central government that can handle common problems (e.g. complaints, generic CPD, etc.)
By the time this article is published, I expect we will have a definite way forward on either a federal structure or the AC remaining as a single VSR, so ensure you read information being sent to you about this so that you can keep up-to-date of what is happening and how it affects you and your practice.
Carole Preen AC Office
Tel: 0870 7743477
www.aromatherapycouncil.co.uk