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The Future of Homeopathy in the UK
In My Opinion
17th July, 2007.
By Louise Mclean, LCCH MARH.
Editor, Zeus Information Service www.zeusinfoservice.com
This article attempts to cover not only future legal threats to the continuance of our profession but also opinions of leading homeopaths in the UK. It is being written to try to clarify our current position because of the recently disbanded Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths (CORH) when it was declared insolvent on the 8th May this year.
The main purpose of CORH was to establish a Single Register and Voluntary Self Regulation for a homeopathic profession of over two thousand registered practitioners in the UK. The Society of Homeopaths has 1,500 members with the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths and Homeopathic Medical Association having about half that number and there were seven other organisations in CORH representing homeopaths.
The work of CORH had been ongoing for the past 6 years with more than £2 million being spent and much had been achieved towards the Single Register in the creation of a single Accreditation and Registration process as well as Code of Ethics, etc. The Single Register had been on course to go live in January 2008.
The breakdown in CORH occurred because some stakeholder organisations representing homeopaths were not prepared to put the extra costs of £50 to their membership, despite having tacitly agreed to do so at a meeting in November 2006.
The extra money was in part because the Society of Homeopaths asked for £44,000 per annum out of the CORH budget to pay for the accreditation work of CORH for 2007 but the other registering organisations did not feel it was fair to ask their members to pay SoH during the transition period. The Society, which has the most experience and money had been working on their own accreditation process for many years. CORH had created its own separate accreditation system which was due to come into being in 2008.
In fact considerably more money for CORH would be asked of homeopaths in the coming years to pay for a Chief Executive Officer as well as registration fees.
Creating a new regulatory body is bound to involve extra costs.
From various people I have spoken to the differences of opinion in CORH have been bubbling below the surface for some time. This is why things have come to a head.
Over the last two weeks I have talked to a number of top homeopaths in the profession to ascertain their views and found very different responses. There are some who believe that the end of CORH is no bad thing and like a phoenix rising from the ashes, something much better will replace it, utilising all the good work that has been accomplished as a basis. Others are less happy with the recent outcome of events.
There has been a great deal of discussion on homeopathy forums and many believe that the situation has been caused by a lack of agreement between the various registering organisations which has not been in the best interests of their members or the profession. In order to go forward, it is absolutely necessary to become a solid united front and members expect leadership and solutions from their Boards of Directors. Cohesion and unity are the most important things right now.
While everybody discusses the recent demise of CORH, I am much more concerned with other threats that could be facing us.
As everyone knows, in November 2000 the House of Lords Select Committee report on CAM listed five therapies it recommended go down the route to statutory regulation. The Chiropractors and Osteopaths are already regulated by Acts of Parliament and the Acupuncturists and Herbalists are well on their way to achieving this. We are the only one of the so called BIG FIVE that are not working towards statutory regulation, though 70% of homeopath practitioners who filled in the CORH questionnaire had stated they would like to pursue statutory regulation for homeopathy and the work already undertaken to create a Single Register could have been utilised for this purpose.
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldselect/ldsctech/123/12304.htm
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldselect/ldsctech/123/12309.htm#a41
All the other CAM practices are to be federally regulated.
http://www.fih.org.uk/Our+work/Regulation+of+complementary+therapies/
Maggie Wallace who chaired CORH until 2006 was an employee of and appointed through Prince Charles’ Foundation for Integrated Health, with a remit through the Department of Health to get homeopathy regulated. The Prince’s Foundation is believed to have been given a grant of £900,000 by the UK government. Many believe FIH to be a quango of the Department of Health.
From May to July 2006 the Prince’s Foundation undertook a wide ranging consultation on a federal approach to voluntary self regulation of complementary healthcare.
A Federal Regulatory Council (FRC) would regulate the Single Registers of the profession-specific boards (PSBs) of the various complementary therapies. http://www.fih.org.uk/Our+work/Regulation+of+complementary+therapies/FederalApproach.htm
Yet according to Karin Mont of the Alliance of Registered Homeopaths, writing in Homeopathy in Practice (Summer 2007 p.11) – ‘Federal Voluntary Self Regulation is a recently introduced concept that is intended to bring a diverse group of complementary therapies under one central control. The homeopathy profession has been unanimous in rejecting federalisation as an option for regulation’.
Yet federalisation is synonomous with EU legislation which we all know is being enforced into the UK.
Do we really think we can reject both statutory regulation AND federal (EU) regulation?
I believe this could leave us in a very vulnerable legal position with no protection in Law. This is because on 21st June 2007 Tony Blair signed Britain up to the EU Constitution which means that we will be bound by EU Law. Homeopathy has always enjoyed the privilege of practising in Britain under Common Law but the European Court of Justice can overrule all UK courts as EU Law will take precedence.
I have heard that the UK government apparently does not want the homeopathic profession to go down the statutory route now and anyway, do we even know whether a UK Act of Parliament would truly give us protection in law if EU law is dominant?
There is another legal threat that looms large over the homeopathic profession. Many people are aware of the EU Food Supplements Directive that was transposed into UK law in 2002; they may have heard about the EU Traditional Herbal Medicines Directive that became law in October 2005 but have they heard of the EU Human Medicinal Products or Pharmaceuticals Directive which passed into UK Law in 2004?
This law is designed to control pharmaceutical products but has such a wide definition, it can affect virtually any product it chooses. The definition basically includes ‘any substance or combination of substances used to correct, modify or restore physiological functions that exert an immuniological, metabolic or physiological function of the body, will be deemed a medicine’.
The second aspect of the Human Medicinal Products Directive is that it has a provision that allows it to trump any other piece of European Law. It gives the regulators a big gun to more or less choose at will whatever product they want and call it a drug. http://www.zeusinfoservice.com/Articles/Interview-Robert-Verkerk.html According to Dr. Robert Verkerk of the Alliance for Natural Health this law may affect homeopathic medicine.
Many people are becoming aware that legislation created by the European Union is the blueprint for a forthcoming One World Government. This autumn 2007, the countries of North and South America are being lined up for the creation of a North American Union (NAU) which will be along similar lines as the EU. New Zealand and Australia are also ‘harmonising’ their laws in the same way and presumably the rest of the world will be forced to follow suit. This means that one set of laws will be introduced for the whole world – known as ‘harmonisation’.
The United Nations is expected to be the seat of World Government and the World Health Organisation is very much part of it. CODEX Alimentarius under the United Nations’ WHO, is a prime example of one set of laws to apply worldwide.
(The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by FAO and WHO to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The main purposes of this Programme are protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.) http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp
The Codex threat mainly relates to vitamin and mineral supplements but includes legislation for GM food. The laws that CODEX have been working on for many years, will apply to all countries.
I have recently been contacted by an osteopath informing me that ‘'My profession recently met with the World Health Organisation (WHO) for them to be involved in setting an international standard for osteopathic education to subsequently then inform National Governments on these standards.' I am reliably informed that representatives of the homeopathic profession will also be getting observer status at WHO.
What this means is that there was the initial move to get the acupuncturists, chiropractors, osteopaths, herbalists and homeopaths regulated in the UK in order for them to be further regulated by the World Health Organisation for one set of standards worldwide. The effect would be to stifle and straitjacket our profession to such a degree that we may no longer be allowed to practise homeopathy as we learnt it.
Many people are aware that the World Health Organisation is ‘in bed’ with Big Pharma and these moves to regulate natural health therapies are coming from the pharmaceutical companies, increasingly alarmed at the growing popularity of alternative medicine which is making a dent in their profits. Yet according to the French homeopathic company Boiron, homeopathy accounts for 0.03% of the total drugs trade in the world but I expect they want to stem the tide in case it gets any bigger!
According to my friend Emma Holister in France, where you have to be a doctor to practise homeopathy, the natural health professions there have been so restricted and over-regulated, as to be ineffective, forcing people to go back to their doctors. This is the goal.
So where does this leave us right now with the collapse of CORH?
According to Stephen Gordon, General Secretary, European Council for Classical Homeopathy, the UK Government has recently published a White Paper which states that all healthcare practitioners must be regulated. He believes it is too late for the homeopathy profession to seek statutory regulation and their current choice lies between establishing a single stand alone voluntary register or becoming a section for homeopaths as part of a federally structured voluntary register.
One way or another we are going to be forced to get our act together! If not, we will be put on the EU Federal register. ‘A Federal Approach to Voluntary Self Regulation’ http://www.fih.org.uk/Our+work/Regulation+of+complementary+therapies/FederalApproach.htm - the word ‘Voluntary’ sounds like we can make up the rules as we go along but the reverse will be true in an EU climate which regulates everything that moves and which has passed thousands of laws over the last 15 years, most of which we know little or nothing about.
With regard to statutory regulation for homeopathy, many people have pointed out that it is hugely expensive and would require practitioners to pay large annual fees. Fees for osteopaths and chiropractors have tripled since achieving that status. Yet others point out that in the experience of the osteopaths and chiropractors, this status gives them legitimacy in the eyes of the public, thereby increasing the number of patients. Yet osteopaths and chiropractors have of course not had to bear the unrelenting attacks in the media as homeopaths have had to endure. Nevertheless, statutory regulation went a long way in restoring public confidence in their professions.
I cannot believe we will be allowed to regulate ourselves and the two choices we have will be either federal or statutory, with statutory regulation being the best option for a profession as elite as homeopathy. If we are federally regulated we will lumped to together with aromatherapy, reiki, reflexology, etc. with extremely reduced status and who knows what restrictions to endure.
So the situation as I see it is this:-
1. All the registering homeopathic organisations have been brought together through CORH to form a Single Register.
2. The idea is that CORH would then become a National Register & Regulatory Body (with a new name).
3. If we don’t go down the statutory regulation route, this NRRB will be federally regulated by an EU Federal Regulatory Council which will oversee all the other CAM disciplines in the UK.
4. At the moment the homeopathic profession seems to believe that it can have Voluntary Self Regulation and regulate itself.
5. This is highly unlikely and I cannot see it being allowed under EU Law.
Below are comments from some of the homeopaths I spoke to or who wrote back to me but I am ending this article on a highly controversial note and what I personally believe is the truth of the situation, giving a comment from Marlene Houghton who has been thoroughly researching restrictions on natural medicine since the early 1990s:
“The only solution is to get out of the EU and to remove the supremacy of EU law over Common Law which protected natural medicine here in Britain. Only in this way will we be able to save the lay practitioners, otherwise it will be orthodox doctors only, just like in EU countries and mainly drugs only.
The EU is hell bent on standardisation and this covers natural therapists. This is what the European Community is based on. They have signed treaties that tie us in and this is covered by Articles 48-66 of the EEC Treaty, so unless we get out we are lumbered and none of the 3 main political parties want out, as they are on the gravy train.
Homeopaths have been persecuted for over 100 years because the allopaths have always wanted to move into their patch that they saw as lucrative. They also jealously guard their status and do not want the 'unqualified' (as they see them in their arrogance), to have the same equal status.
The irony here is that doctors may practise natural medicine with little or NO formal training while many lay practitioners with considerable knowledge and experience are being scrutinised and over regulated. You can thank the EU for this.”
The New Witch Hunts – Is there a future for alternative medicine in the EU? http://www.zeusinfoservice.com/Health/WitchHunts.html
So my conclusion to this article and solution to the problems we face, is that we need to join the campaign to get OUT of the EU and support the case to challenge the legality of Britain being part of it. By doing this we would not only be saving our right to practise under Common Law, we would also be safeguarding all the other natural therapies that are going to be restricted including our right to natural vitamin supplements. This does not mean I am against forming a Single Register or in reinstating CORH but I am highly wary of the strong push to regulate all CAM therapies which I am convinced is being driven by the EU and Big Pharma lobby.
ACTION TO STOP THE PROPOSED NEW EU CONSTITUTION Britain's membership of the EU is Constitutionally Illegal. Contrary to common belief Britain has a written Constitution. Successive governments have exceeded their parliamentary powers, laid down in ancient Statute documents, such as Magna Carta, the Declaration of Rights, and the Coronation Act - all still in force today. The intention is therefore to challenge the Government's legal powers to surrender Britain's sovereignty and self-governance, by pressing for Judicial Review in the highest courts in the land.
I can personally vouch for John Harris and his wife Heather who are running this as I have met them and they are totally genuine. They have created HUGE interest in high places and from all quarters. All money raised for the legal challenge is in the form of pledges which will go directly into a legal fund. http://www.tpuc.org/ http://www.socfund.co.uk/ Email: noj@tpuc.org
COMMENTS FROM HOMEOPATHS -
Robin Logan, now Registered with The North American Society of Homeopaths and The Canadian Society of Homeopaths.: “I think that unity in the homeopathic community would mean the best chance of survival but also believe that it will be virtually impossible to unite all homeopaths because of deep philosophical differences amongst us. We are facing increasing challenges from our critics and detractors and we are going to have to be equipped to deal with those. Ultimately we are going to have to produce proof that what we do is worthwhile, or at least that the science behind it is valid. Without that, internal squabbles, politics, the structure of the homeopathic community and even our individual beliefs about what constitutes good homeopathy, will be of little relevance.” About Robin Logan: http://www.natural-skin-health.com/robin-logan.html
Peter Morrell, B.Sc. PGCE., MPhil.,Hon. Research Associate, History of Medicine, Staffordshire University, UK. Homeopathic Historian
http://homeoint.org/morrell/peter.htm
"A house divided will soon fall apart! Yes I do think that a united profession, united under one register and under one code of ethics and one mission statement, all 'singing from the same hymn sheet', would be a very desirable thing to aim for. However, homeopathy is an individualistic pursuit that fosters individuals and many within it as a movement might be termed rebellious non-conformists and vaguely anarchistic and don't like being told what to do or being bossed around or being herded under one roof. And you see this in the history of the movement - homeopaths tend to squabble like ferrets in a sack. Thus, how you achieve unity in a profession of such diversity I do not know."
SHAUNA WYLDECK-ESTRADA, R.S.Hom
“Historically we do have a tendency to kick ourselves in the face. Homeopaths are not very political and there is alot of self interest within the homeopathic organisations, they are not outward looking to the wider community which is why we've always stayed so much on the fence over the vaccination issue. I'm fairly ambiguous about the work in the NHS and our relationship with the medical profession. Are we alternative medicine, are we complementary? There's alot of ambiguity within the community itself and I think that has probably come about in the CORH meetings. I know there has been a financial situation where the participants have not put money into the kitty and therefore they have had to flounder but I am sure there have been other things going on which we are not privy to politically. If we had been able to create a self-regulatory body which was strong and unified then perhaps we would actually have been able to make a good case but obviously we are incapable of doing that. We don't seem to share common goals. That's the crux of the matter.”
KEN MAYNE, Registered Homeopath, Secretary of the Northern Ireland Association of Homeopaths.
Here in Northern Ireland, after a seven year campaign initiated and led by homeopaths, the Minister of Health has announced that CAM, including homeopathy, will be integrated into the health service. This is a first for any part of the UK, and may well form the template for what happens in England, Scotland and Wales.
The Department of Health will run a pilot scheme next year under which GPs will refer patients for treatment with “Big Five” CAM practitioners. Having achieved this remarkable breakthrough, we homeopaths are now in the embarrassing position of having to explain why GPs will not be able to refer patients to homeopaths under their normal NHS terms of service because we are the only leading CAM profession not
having, or in the process of developing, a credible regulatory process acceptable to the Department of Health.
We have enough critics already, without giving those who now wish to work with us the impression that we are are not interested in establishing formal structures to ensure patient safety and to enable working with the Department of Health and other healthcare professionals.
Like most homeopaths I was originally in support of voluntary self-regulation. Because we practitioners work together well at the sharp end we assumed our representatives would do the same. However, it looks as though they have not been able to make self-regulation work after all. Seven years after the Lords' report we have little to show. Statutory regulation would have required us to negotiate, accommodate and agree but we have missed that opportunity now anyway. Nor do the societies want to go along with the remaining CAM professions in the federal aproach to regulation, so where is there to go now?
We are surely but steadily working ourselves out of the mainstream. The question must be Why? - when homeopathy is more popular with the public than ever and when we are poised to make serious inroads into the NHS? I am beginning to think that a lot of homeopaths want to remain in some sort of magic domain in which we, the divinely-appointed guardians of the healing flame are oppressed, misunderstood geniuses living in penury and patients have to go on a spiritual quest to find us. Actually, I think we are afraid of success. By sabotaging any movement toward establishing homeopathy as a genuine profession, we are validating our old familiar role as victims.
We need a homeopathy rescue plan. But first we would urgently need to debate the future of the profession and develop a common vision that most homeopaths could buy into and work towards together. I would really like to know where most practitioners would like to take homeopathy in the future. For example if most homeopaths thought it a bad idea to be working with the NHS, I would stop banging my head against that particular wall.
What would a rescue plan look like?
All stakeholders come together, including the homeopathic doctors.
Debate and agree a vision of the future of homeopathy, and then declare specific objectives for homeopathic medicine and the profession, with an action plan.
Urgent moves toward a credible form of regulation that will satisfy the needs of patients, government, EU, other healthcare professionals and homeopaths.
A real commitment by all of the parties to work to work through whatever difficulites arise in order to achieve these objectives.
Money - lots of it - to do the above and to fight the campaign by Baum et al.