Better regulation and more research will prove the value of integrated health

View slides from Sir Cyril's presentation

Both conventional and complementary practitioners have to focus on patient safety, warns Sir Cyril Chantler, chairman of health charity the King’s Fund and FIH Fellow. The fundamental principle of medicine is ‘first do no harm’, Sir Cyril said. But he added: ‘It is very important to think about what good we can do. First do no harm, next do some good.’

The need for patient safety is paramount for both complementary and conventional practitioners, stressed Sir Cyril. ‘The treatments we offer have to be safe.’

Regulation of practitioners is developing fast, he noted. Therapies such as acupuncture, herbal and Chinese medicine could be brought into the existing Health Professionals council.

It currently registers 13 conventional professions, from art therapists and biomedical scientists to radiographers and speech and language therapists.  And the new Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council will set standards for practitioners on a voluntary basis, he added.

Osteopathy and chiropractic were the first complementary professions to be subject to statutory regulation. Registers for both professions were first published in 2000.

But therapists and health professionals who use complementary medicine must go further, he added. ‘We need to demonstrate that the treatments we use are clinically effective and cost effective, representing value for money to the NHS.

‘We need to show patient outcome measures and patient satisfaction measures in the long term.’ Studies should give results for patients at longer periods, such as six months or 12 months later.

And researchers need to develop new methods of assessment that reflect the whole interaction between practitioner and patient, he said. ‘We need to have techniques that measure complex interventions. This is about far more than pills and potions’.

Finally, Sir Cyril said, both complementary and conventional practitioners should act in partnership. ‘Patients deserve the different professions to work together with respect, so complementary and conventional professionals are working together.’