Statutory Self Regulation of Herbal Medicine

a personal perspective by Stephen & Carol Church

Background

Most of you will be aware that the profession of Osteopathy has been state-registered for a few years now. It has recently been joined by the Chiropractor, whilst homeopathy, acupuncture and herbal medicine are all responding to Government pressure to make similar arrangements as a matter of urgency. Some of the motivation is without doubt political but there is also an assumed hurry to have arrangements enshrined in UK Law before the European Commission develops legislation of natural medicines and treatments, which is anticipated to be unsympathetic.

Herbal Medicine in the UK is not only practiced by NIMH members but a miscellany of smaller professional bodies, and others represent ethnic medicine from China, India and Tibet, for instance. Government policy insists that this diverse grouping from radically different traditions should nevertheless be legislated on mass.

The arrangements recommended for Herbal Medicine are slightly different to the Osteopaths and in fact more like the governing Orthodox medicine, namely Statutory Self Regulation. This reassuring term nevertheless means state registration and a very high degree of State control, as Doctors will tell you. Ultimately, we would be subject to a new General Herbal Council (analogous to the Doctors' General Medical Council) but for the time being, Herbal Medicine as a collective is represented to the Government by the European Herbal Practitioners Association. It is anticipated that a point of no return would be reached some time next year and the transition would be completed within five years.

Carol and I are part of a growing number of Herbal Practitioners that have come to realise that the arrangements currently under consideration for SSR are so ill conceived that we cannot, in conscience, subscribe to them. We believe that the whole enterprise will flounder and are further alarmed that there are no contingency plans for such an eventuality. We would like to be in the position of having suitable alternative arrangements in place. Here is why:

Money: Far from state funding of Herbal Medicine, (as you might have expected), the Government insists that the cost of setting up and administering SSR should be paid for entirely out of the pockets of Herbal Practitioners. We would have no choice but to increase our fees substantially. Doctors and Hospital Clinics might in theory feel more free to employ Herbalists but the Osteopaths experience in this respect has been so disappointing that they are starting to de-register in droves. Meanwhile, our costs would rise yet further because of...

Bureaucracy: One of the reasons we are able to routinely spend half an hour or more with each of our patients, is that we are able to keep our paperwork and administration to the minimum. This would no longer be the case - their would be more form-filling during your consultation and more in-between times - which would inevitably cause costs to rise further- and with no benefit whatsoever to ourselves or our patients. Bureaucracy has already become a major issue in our Professional Organisation - even at this early stage it is showing dangerous signs of being unsustainable.

Freedom of Choice: Working in the middle of what is officially the worst area in the Country for NHS Healthcare, it is not surprising to find that the majority of patients who come to us have been injured, betrayed or abandoned by State controlled medicine, or have other personal reasons to mistrust it. Part of their choice in coming here is for the very reason that we are not state controlled. The safe and effective independent medical treatment should surely remain available for those who choose it.

Safety: The Government says that state registration is necessary so that the public can have an assurance of safe practise. One has to observe from recent evidence, that state control of medicine is not a guarantee of safety! By contrast, Institute trained Herbalists have an extraordinary safety record - in 140 years there has never been a claim on our professional insurance. There is very much a case for saying that "It ain't bust, don't fix it". Meanwhile, safety is largely a consequence of .....

Standards: Where training, professional development, codes of ethics, etc., are concerned, we have always been proud that our standards are beyond reproach. Being legislated with other professional bodies, particularly those from third world cultures, will inevitably cause these standards to drop. This is not just a future anxiety - however good the intentions, preliminary changes in education, both undergraduate and postgraduate, already evidence an alarming fall in standards.

Herbs: One of the "perks" on offer to Herbalists if they accept registration is that a large range of the most useful herbs will be reserved for "practitioner use only". Well, most good Practitioners don't want it! We don't want to see Practitioners of other disciplines being denied the opportunity to incorporate Herbal Medicines in their work, of for restrictions to be placed on the many perfectly safe remedies hitherto available to the public for their own use. It's also true that we will be under tremendous pressure to stock and dispense "Phytopharmaceuticals" - very expensive, concentrated and standardised plant drugs. Most practitioners have evaluated these already and have rejected them as being poorly therapeutic and fraught with potential side effects.

Of course, we would all love to "come in from the cold" and be officially recognised and protected, and the fears about European legislation are very real. However, the professional practise of Herbal Medicine is only part of a much broader tradition - Herbal Medicine is the indigenous traditional healing system of the British peoples ("Folk Medicine") and its freedoms and protections here are unique in Europe. EEC Proposals regarding Natural Medicines are likely to be the subject of public protest in the near future and we would rather campaign hand in hand with our patients and the public, rather then find ourselves on the other side of the fence! We are clearly in a volatile and changeable situation - we will keep you informed to the best of our ability and certainly let you know if and when the need arises for patients and the public to enter the debate. Meanwhile our thanks and appreciation go out to our patients for the steadfast love and support you continue to show us.