The Society and the Single Register
A single register and regulatory body is an independent organisation that would set and implement standards for the education and practice of UK homeopaths.
Why does The Society of Homeopaths want to see a single register and regulatory body in place?
Following the House of Lords report into Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2000, the government confirmed that CAM groups should put single regulatory bodies in place.
“We recommend that each of the therapies should organise themselves under a single professional body for each therapy. Each should comply with core professional principles and relevant information about each body should be made known to medical practitioners and other healthcare professionals. Patients could then have a single reliable point of reference for standards and would be protected against the risk of poorly-trained practitioners and have redress for poor services.”(1)
The Society of Homeopaths considers that homeopathy is a discrete discipline. We wish to see homeopaths in autonomous practice, working to the highest standards, within agreed bounds of competence for the profession, in any context where homeopathy is a useful intervention.
We believe that a system of rigorous voluntary self-regulation delivered via a single register and regulatory body will show patients that the profession is appropriately educated and accountable.
What is Voluntary Self Regulation?
Voluntary Self-regulation means the profession regulates itself. It does this by putting the infrastructure and processes in place for:
When the above are in place, the following guiding principles of regulation are then met:
The Society already fulfils the requirements for a regulatory body. So why would a single register and regulatory body improve on what The Society already does?
There are currently 10 different registers for homeopaths in the UK. Each register has different regulatory processes and standards in place. This is confusing for members of the public and also for homeopaths.
Patient groups say that they want a single point of reference for CAM groups (2)
Independent single statutory councils currently regulate osteopaths and chiropractors. Acupuncture, Herbal and Chinese Traditional Medicine groups are working with the Department of Health towards statutory regulation. It is expected that these groups will join the Health Professions Council. The government has indicated that it will next review regulation for healthcare in 2011.
The Society considers that this gives the homeopathy profession the opportunity to demonstrate it is a mature and responsible profession by achieving a robust system of voluntary self-regulation via a single register and regulatory body.
Why is homeopathy opting for a single register and regulatory body for homeopathy and not working with other CAM groups?
10 complementary professions are currently working in partnership with the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health to develop a federal model for voluntary self-regulation.
In 2006, the 10 homeopathy registers unanimously agreed to opt for a single register and regulatory body for homeopathy and so decided not to join the Foundation’s working group.
It’s now up to the profession to see that the single register and regulatory body is achieved.
References:
1) Government Response to House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology's Report on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. March 2001, 5124, page 6 Regulation, para6.
2) House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Written Evidence Received up to 1 February 2000, Consumers Association page 64 - 69.
The Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths (CORH)
The Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths (CORH)
Dear colleague
On 3rd September, 2007, The Society of Homeopaths attended a special meeting of The Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths (CORH) Council.
The agenda for this meeting stated:
“At a meeting held on 25 July 2007, at which all but one of the professional associations registering homeopaths was represented, it was proposed that the Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths be dissolved.
This Special General Meeting of the Council is to agree whether this formal dissolution of the Council should be taken forward. A vote will be taken.
Once the vote has been taken, and if it is in favour of dissolving the Council, there are a number of steps that need to be taken. These are set out below:
The outstanding debts of the Council need to be discharged. A statement setting out the current financial position, as at 13 August 2007, of the Council is attached. The current creditors fall into two broad groups:
There are two professional associations that have not yet paid the amounts agreed which are needed to close the Council and discharge its debts. They are:
Regrettably, the meeting turned away from the agenda to focus on proposals not only to overturn the budget and business plan agreed in November 2006 but to retrospectively change payments which 8 associations had already made to settle any outstanding debts to CORH.
The meeting also focussed on the sum of £44,000, written in to the CORH Business Plan. This sum represents the 2007 net cost of The Society’s course recognition process, which CORH Council, following a proposal from its Accreditation Working Group, had unanimously agreed in November 2006 as a reduction to The Society’s fees. In return, CORH asked The Society to continue to run its course recognition processes, acknowledging that there was need for secure transition between The Society’s course recognition and CORH’s accreditation process. CORH Accreditation Working Group had reported that it would be unrealistic for CORH’s accreditation group to manage accreditation for 20 – 30 courses immediately and that the new process needed piloting as a first stage. It would, therefore, be far cheaper and more effective to ask The Society to continue to run its own processes for the benefit of the whole profession until the new process was fully operational.
In January 2007, CORH’s Implementation Group requested that The Society draw up a service level agreement to formalise these arrangements, which The Society subsequently worked on with CORH’s Interim Chief Executive, Trish Brady.
During this time, The Society continued to act in good faith by providing quality assurance via its Education department’s course recognition process to ensure a secure transition between The Society’s recognition process and the accreditation process devised by CORH.
The Society also finalised a fee schedule for payments to CORH, with effect from January 2007.
However, by the end of April 2007, the ARH and the HMA had not paid any fees at all to CORH, which placed it under an impossible financial pressure. The Society then attended three further meetings, including an externally mediated meeting, in an attempt to find a way forward to achieve a single register and regulatory body for homeopaths.
The meeting on the 3rd September once again raised these differing viewpoints, with a final agreement being reached that the differences were irreconcilable.
The Society therefore left the meeting having fulfilled all of its obligations to CORH: ie it had agreed to the dissolution of CORH and had paid in full (3rd July) the proportion of the final debt, as invoiced by the CORH Executive.
Nevertheless, The Society remains committed to an independent register and regulatory body for homeopathy in the UK, with standards commensurate with our own. This will not now be formed by CORH. However, The Society will continue to work towards its establishment,
Lastly, The Society wishes to thank all of its members for their support during this process and in particular, their ongoing commitment to The Society - the only register that currently operates as a register and full regulatory body in the UK.
10th September 2007
MEETING HELD ON 25 JULY 2007
At a meeting of the organisations and their appointed representatives listed below held on Wednesday 25 July 2007, the following three statements were agreed by BRCP, ANM and The Society of Homeopaths for publication:
Following further discussions, the organisations present at the meeting on 25 July 2007 decided, by a majority, to propose that a meeting of CORH Council be held on Monday 3 September 2007 at 11.00, where the formal dissolution of CORH would be proposed.
Also, a majority of organisations present at the meeting on 25 July 2007 proposed that a meeting be held after the CORH Council meeting, on the same day, of those organisations committed to a single register and regulatory body, as described in the above joint statements, providing that any of those organisations who wished to be present at that meeting had paid in full their debts, if any, to CORH by 31 August 2007.
The Mediator, Linda Laurence, urged the organisations present to draw a line under past differences, which had been openly explored at the meeting held on 25 July 2007.
Organisations and their appointed representatives present at the meeting
Chris Adamson, NAHG; Zofia Dymitr, SoH; Penny Horsburgh, BRCP; Tessa Jordan, ANM plus briefs from FelHom and SAPH; Sue Josling, HCPF; Diana Shirley, ISHom(UK); Maggie Moss, IRCH; Paula Ross, SoH; Andrée Sanford, BRCP and Hans G Schrauder, CThA and HMA.
Apologies were noted from FelHom and SAPH, both of whom were represented by the ANM representative.