Statutory Regulation: The Chiropractic Experience Michael C Copland-Griffiths Chiropractic has been in existence for over a hundred years, appearing in America at a time when the statutory regulation of medicine was taking effect. Its early history is coloured by encounters with adverse regulatory laws and by internecine squabbles between different sub-groups attempting to secure regulation favourable to themselves. It rapidly spread across the world, where it encountered many different regulatory environments. The experience of chiropractic in these environments is examined. In the UK chiropractors have sought favourable statutory regulation since 1925 when they felt threatened by the promotion of the first Osteopaths Bill. Their experiences as they have pursued this goal are recorded, including an unsuccessful attempt to register as a profession supplementary to medicine. Their greatest hurdle was in securing the unity of the profession when a new wing of the profession appeared in the early 1980s that many refused to recognise as chiropractic. In spite of strong mutual suspicion and distrust, the profession united under a group formed specifically to pursue regulation and secured the Chiropractors Act (1994). The requirements set by government to achieve the Act are examined, as are those that have been subsequently imposed to secure the commencement of the Act.
Spin Doctoring Acupuncture Gerry Harris and Isobel Cosgrove This paper explores the need for developing new ways of working between those of us who practise traditional acupuncture and those within the medical profession who practise acupuncture as a technique. Using an example from the professional life of each of the authors to highlight a need for change, recommendations are set out with a view to stimulating discussion of this area by the membership of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC).
What is an Acupuncturist? Five Differing Views Arnold Desser, Dr Kevin Baker, Nadia Ellis, Roger Newman Turner, and Dr Adrian White Five practitioners from different backgrounds, including Western medical doctors, an osteopath, a physiotherapist and a university lecturer, express their personal views on this subject. The contributions range from the philosophical to the practical and include views on the effectiveness of acupuncture and its role in health care, and notes on the foibles and idiosyncracies observed in members of the acupuncturist 'species'. Transcribed from the presentations given at the 1998 BAcC Conference.
Medicine as Signification: Moving Towards Healing Power in the Chinese Medical Tradition Volker Scheid and Dan Bensky A question to which we pretend we know the answer (for it is crucial to everything we do), yet which to the best of the authors' knowledge has never been addressed in a satisfactory manner by any proponent of Chinese medicine in the West is the question of what Chinese medicine actually is. In this article the authors provide an idiosyncratic response which, While neither complete nor based on the kind of comprehensive investigation which would indeed be necessary, reflects their current thinking. They believe that this response can act as a stimulus for future research, reflection and debate.
Developing a Profession: The Case of Acupuncture Michael Golby and Ann Hopper In this paper it is argued that a proper balance between self-regulation and public accountability is essential to the development of a modern profession. Traditionally, the ancient professions have been strong on the first but weak on the second of these criteria. The emerging professions of complementary medicine are conducting their own struggles towards legitimacy. Accreditation of the teaching colleges is regarded here as a principal means whereby a profession might move towards self-regulation and public accountability. A review of the acupuncture profession's espousal of accreditation is offered together with some evaluation findings. It is suggested that there may be important discontinuities between the epistemologies of accreditation and holistic medicine. These tensions call for further and radical thought on the destiny of complementary therapies in a positivist world.
Assessing the Need for Statutory Regulation: Acupuncture into the Millenium Julie Stone As the millennium approaches, the acupuncture profession faces the pressing question of whether statutory regulation would be the best route to protect the profession and patients, not just in the present climate, but also in the future. In 1996, when the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) last discussed this issue at its annual conference, the general feeling was that effective voluntary self-registration, principally under the Council's umbrella, was the appropriate form of control at that time. What, if anything, has changed during this period? Certainly, the rush to statutory regulation which some people anticipated in the light of the Osteopaths and Chiropractors Acts has not materialised. Nonetheless, the BAcC has seen a more unified profession develop, and public support for acupuncture, as for complementary therapies as a whole, remains high. Moreover, purchasers continue to express interest in utilising complementary therapies within the NHS, (although funding for such initiatives is scant and has even, in some cases, been withdrawn). Against this backdrop, let us look at the arguments for and against statutory regulation, and see whether acupuncture is now at a point at which statutory regulation is a viable, or even necessary option. Read the whole article
Statutory Regulation - No Easy Answers Emma Melville The question of statutory regulation is exercising the minds of many alternative therapists at present. Careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of statutory regulation is needed, including examining the experiences of those who have already achieved regulated status.
A Personal View Bonita Lee The author is a former financial and current affairs journalist who is currently training as a homoeopath and completing a dissertation on the Statutory Self-Regulation of Homoeopathy. Having been invited to observe the BAcC's conference which debated SSR, she reflects on the views expressed there and concludes that the process of SSR is not for the practitioner but for the patient. 'And taking care of the consumer/patient is, after all, what acupuncturists and homoeopaths are all about.'
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