Registration of complementary health care practitioners

Information

There are currently no statutory registration requirements for the practitioners of complementary medicine in Ireland. Practitioners of this care are now generally refered to a complementary therapists.

However, as a preliminary step in the process of developing a system of registration for complementary health practitioners, the Minister for Health and Children convened a forum in June 2001 to examine and explore practical issues involved. As detailed in the Health Strategy, there are a number of factors that any registration system should take account of as follows:

• The categories of therapists to be covered
• The evidence base for each therapy
• The educational qualifications, training and experience of therapists
• The scope of practice involved;
• The protection of the public and promotion of a quality service, including the efficacy of the therapies offered
• Regulations governing alternative therapists in other countries and
• The current proposals for statutory registration of health and social care professionals in Ireland.

Arising from the work of the forum, the Minister requested the Institute of Public Administration to prepare a report on proposals for the way forward, taking into consideration the formal views of the representative groups that participated in the forum. You can view the Report on the Regulation of Practitioners of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Ireland (pdf) here.

The report which was launched in November 2002 delivers on Chapter 7, Action 106 of Ireland's Health Strategy. In addition, it makes a number of recommendations on proposals for the way forward. These include:

• establishing a Working Group to examine and consider regulatory issues in Ireland
• continuation and develoment of a consultation process
• support for individual therapies in developing or strengthening their systems of self-regulation.

As recommended in the report, a National Working Group to progress the agenda set out in the report was established. This working group held it's first meeting in May 2003. In May 2006 the Minister for Health and Children launched the report of the National Working Group, together with an information leaflet on complimentary therapy. View the Report of the National Working Group the Regulation of Complementary Therapists here (pdf). You may also download the information leaflet 'Complementary Therapy - an Information Guide for the Public (pdf).

The Working Group's research reported that the alternative therapy community in Ireland is a broad one with a wide range of expertise, training and association with other practitioners. The Minister for Health's primary concern in considering the Report's recommendations was the most effective way to regulate this sector. Experience abroad favours self-regulation of this sector and initially, the Department have indicated they favour this option in Ireland.