Statutory regulation of Traditional world medicines in the UK

A range of traditional world medicines may become statutorily regulated in the UK.  This would mean that the law would govern the practice of acupuncture, herbal medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine and some other traditional medical systems. 

The purpose of the law would be to make sure that practitioners are appropriately educated, safe and competent.  The public could then approach them with confidence, knowing that they met a legally enforceable standard in the same way as doctors, dentists and other health professionals.

A report on this proposed change was published by a steering group from the Department of Health in May 2008.  The Minister for Health, Ben Bradshaw, will now consult for a further three months before finally deciding whether the changes should be put before Parliament. 

The report makes suggestions about how to deal with a number of issues, ranging from the practicalities of setting up another regulatory body to avoiding situations where competent practitioners are inadvertently outlawed.  One issue is around levels of spoken English - some TCM practitioners may not have a sufficient standard of English to communicate with non-Chinese-speaking patients.   

The report strongly advocates a 'grandparenting' system where existing practitioners who can prove a high level of competence would not have to undergo additional examinations to become regulated.

FIH has contributed to the report, both by participation on the working group and through previous work carried out for the Department of Health.  We will be reporting on how these plans develop over the next few months.