Nutritional Therapy Council members join new regulator

The Nutritional Therapy Council (NTC) is transferring the administration of its practitioner register to the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), an independent voluntary regulator which is supported by the Department of Health. Current members of the NTC register will be offered a free transfer to the CNHC register.

The Grandparenting Scheme, which runs until October 2009, will continue to be administered by the NTC, to enable existing practitioners to apply for registration. Successful applicants will be given a Certificate of Competence to present to the CNHC for registration.

The NTC will also continue to administer the accreditation scheme for training courses in nutritional therapy and will report directly to the CNHC on these matters. Several organisations providing diploma or degree courses are going through this process at present.

With the transfer of the register to the CNHC, the NTC will act as an independent Professional Standards Council, serving both the profession and the regulator.  Any Professional Association representing nutritional therapists will be able to join the NTC as a full or associate member.  The NTC ’s principal role will be  the development and advancement of  professional standards. Training providers and other stakeholders will also be invited to engage in a wider consultation exercise.

This new chapter in the work of the NTC will begin with facilitating a new consultation process on training and practice development in nutritional therapy. Foremost will be a review of the proposed revision of the National Occupational Standard (NOS) for nutritional therapy. ‘Skills for Health’, the appointed Skills council, is undertaking a review of the NOS for several complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) disciplines, and a draft document will be made available to the profession, for stakeholders to comment.