UK complementary therapists to be regulated by the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council

A new regulatory body called the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) will be launched in summer 2008 to enhance consumer safety through a credible, robust and professional voluntary regulatory structure for the practice of complementary healthcare in the UK. Creation of the independent regulatory body has been facilitated by the Foundation for Integrated Health (FIH). The FIH has been working for several years with a range of complementary therapy professions to set up an ‘umbrella’ regulator covering these professions. The Department of Health awarded the FIH a grant of £900000 over the 3-year period 2005 to 2008 to facilitate this process. Registration will be voluntary for therapists and there are currently no plans for complementary therapies to be statutorily regulated; however the Government is awaiting a report from a Working Group on the statutory regulation of acupuncture, herbal medicine and TCM.

<http://www.fih.org.uk/media_centre/natural_health care.html>, accessed February 22, 2008