REGULATION REPORT
FINAL STAGES BEFORE DECISIONS
John Dent (CThA Representative for Regulation)
The long route towards regulation is coming to its conclusion after some 12 years!
The process has been tortuous with many changes of direction being proposed but now it appears that agreement may generally be achieved after some last minute debate currently being played out.
This report poses the most common questions asked and seeks to answer these to provide the background, the current situation and the final stages.
Who and what is to be regulated?
This is quite a complex question because it is clear that the idea is that the individual practitioner will be regulated in her/his practice as a therapist. Thus you can be regulated but only for those therapies which are eventually listed in the proposed scheme. If you practice a therapy which is not listed you would not be regulated in that therapy by the regulatory body.
However also those therapies that are listed will also to a large degree be regulated. By this it is meant that each must have published standards such as: National Occupational Standards, agreed Core Curriculum, lists of accepted qualifications that meet these standards and agreed CPD requirements for the therapy. For the listed therapies these have now been set out by each body representing the therapy (The VSRs – see below).
Do I have to be regulated?
No. This is an entirely voluntary scheme you only join if you want to and it does not affect your right to practice if you do not. It is unlike Statutory Regulation (as required for doctors and nurses, osteopaths, chiropractors and soon acupuncture and herbal medicine) where by law you can only practice under any of those names if you are regulated.
Who will do the regulation?
Over the past year a group made up of representatives of each of the therapy bodies involved has been meeting to devise the scheme under the facilitation of the Foundation for Integrated Health. This group, The Federal Working Group (FWG), was set up to put into place a scheme where there was one regulator and one register for all therapies who wished to join so that there would not be a multitude of separate schemes – one for each therapy.
This proposed scheme is made up of:
§ The Regulatory Council which will be the "Regulatory". This will be made up entirely of lay people who are not therapists.
§ 7 "Boards" covering such areas as: Education & Training, Accreditation, Fitness to Practice, Discipline and Complaints, Legal issues, Finance. These again are made up of lay people
Note: the reason for this "lay" involvement is that the Government’s White Paper on Regulation requires that there must be a separation between those who are regulated and those doing the regulation.
§ Professional Specific Boards (PSBs). There is to be a PSB for each therapy involved and this board will advise the various regulatory boards on therapy specific matters. The professional members of each PSB will be appointed by the therapy bodies. These PSBs will be the link to the professions and advise on changes to standards as well as deal with therapy specific complaints against registrants.
§ There may be a Combined Professions Board to look at issues common to and between therapies, such as Codes of Practice, Professional ethics, generic CPD etc.
§ A Registrar will run the scheme with a staff.
§ Professional Associations (such as CThA) have no part in regulation as their job will be to represent you the registrants and help you in any complaint made against you or any problem on getting registered. Professional associations will have an important role in supporting practitioners and in promoting them to the public.
What will it cost me?
At present no financial plan has been published but the objective is that the fee for the first therapy for which you wish to be registered will be about £35.00 p.a. and perhaps £10.00 p.a for each additional therapy you select to be registered. (The original idea was that the fees would start at about £65.00 but CThA and others argued that this would be too high.)
The actual amount may depend on how much funding the scheme can raise to pay for the costs of setting up and staffing.
How will I get registered – if I want to?
You will apply direct to the regulator sending in copies of your qualifications. If these meet current National Occupational Standards you will be accepted. If you have older qualifications there will be a "Grandparenting" structure which will enable you to show that your older qualifications are enhanced by your experience as a therapist over the past. Details will be published for each therapy.
The decision will be made by Education and Training Board as advised by the PSB for each therapy. Each PSB will have listed all the accepted qualifications.
CThA will provide advice and support for those who wish to be registered.
Should I get registered?
This is entirely up to you. The idea for regulation as proposed by FIH and the Department for Health is that the public will have more confidence in those that are on the National Register. As yet the Department of Health has not said if it will require that only registered practitioners can be employed/engaged by any aspect of the NHS. CThA has urged for this but as yet nothing has been stated.
In recent years some of the bodies representing doctors have stated that CAM practitioners cannot be taken seriously because they are not ‘properly’ qualified and are not regulated. Those interested in "Integrated Health" – such as the Foundation for Integrated Health – are promoting a diversity of treatment options. So PCTS do offer CAM treatments on the NHS and these may require practitioners to be registered.
Does it affect my insurance?
No. The CThA insurance is not related to the regulation and will cover you if you join the scheme or if you do not.
What therapies are joining the scheme?
At present we do not know as until the final details of the scheme are set out. Each therapy involved does not have to commit to being regulated and having practitioners being regulated if they so wish.
Each therapy has a body called the VSR – Voluntary Self Regulation – which is made up of professional associations whose members practice that therapy. Below is a list and against each is CThA’s understanding of the position each may possibly take – but we will not know until December when decisions have to be made.
In recent weeks there has been a good deal of heated debate in some VSRs as to their attitude to details of the scheme and in some cases the outcome cannot be predicted.
Please note that the comments against each cannot be authenticated. If you wish more direct information you should contact each body. The author’s apologies for any errors.
Alexander Technique Voluntary Self-Regulation Group : Will probably join
Aromatherapy Council : Is debating its plans with associations. It had set up its own single register but this has not received a great deal of support
Bowen Forum : Will probably join
Cranial Forum : Unclear at present
Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths : Has decided to have its own separate register
General Council for Massage Therapy : Will probably join
General Naturopathic Council : Unclear at present
Nutritional Therapy Council : May have decided to set up its own separate register
Reflexology Forum : Unclear at present as it has some reservations about the proposed structure
Reiki Regulatory Working Group : May join subject to the final version of the scheme
British Council for Yoga Therapy : Will probably join
The Shiatsu Regulatory Group : Unclear at present
In any case no therapy has to join and each is free to do as it wishes; to stay out, to join or to have its own individual register.
CThA members whenever consulted have by large majorities always wished for there to be one single scheme for all therapies and this is what we have argued for consistently. As a body that represents mostly multi-disciplined practitioners, this is perhaps not surprising.
Recent statements by FIH/FWG executives/managers and by some in various VSRs have been quite critical of each other and/or the proposals. CThA’s view is that much of this was based on misunderstandings and unfortunate mis-reporting in the context of the huge pressure to get to a conclusion by the deadline on September 2007 for the final proposed scheme to be set out. It is a complex set of issues asking for a major change from traditional ways of working and understandably people and organisations have strong views.
When will it all happen (if it does)?
The plan is for the scheme to be fully structured by the end of October so VSRs can decide to join or not by the end of December 2007. The plan is that the scheme would then start in March 2008. It is very likely that it will happen.
Questions and Answers
There is a Forum on the CThA (this) website for Regulation. If you wish to ask any question John Dent will be happy to respond there. He will do so on a ‘once a week’ basis combining all questions asked in the week. Please read other entries to check if your question has already been answered.
Professional Forums
It is being proposed that once the scheme is running the existing VSRs will become "professional forums" (under what ever name they each wish) to enable the associations active in each therapy to be able to get together to promote that particular therapy, to collect and disseminate research, to support schools and colleges, and to be the bodies that develop the Core Curriculum and standards for the therapy so each can have people to appoint to their PSB to advise the regulatory process. In some way this makes the process "Self Regulatory".
Without these bodies it could be that the development of therapies could be left in the hands of the regulatory body and many feel this would not be wise.
John Dent
5th October 2007