The rush to self-regulation also coincides with a new campaign from the Department of Health urging people who feel ill to seek medical help from a doctor before turning to alternative therapists.
Practitioners of certain treatments, such as herbalism and acupuncture, are setting up self-regulating umbrella groups to oversee the registration and training of therapists and to unify standards. Until now they have been overseen by separate and competing bodies.
The need for stricter standards was highlighted after two patients who were treated by an unqualified alternative therapist in Mayo died. They had been advised not to follow the advice of conventional doctors.
Celine Leonard, chairwoman of the National Herbal Council, a newly formed body that incorporates five previously independent organisations, said: “This isn’t going to stop people taking it upon themselves to pretend they are qualified in a therapy, but it will make it more difficult for them to do so, and easier for the public to check up on them.”
Acupuncturists have adopted a similar course with the formation of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Council of Ireland (TCMCI). This involved the amalgamation of three professional acupuncture groups, which were operating independently.
Advertisement
Bernadette Ward, a spokeswoman, said the TCMCI would also act as a lobbying group for acupuncturists and would push for statutory recognition of the title, a move that would effectively make it illegal for non-qualified practitioners to pretend they were fit to practice. Leonard said the National Herbal Council would be seeking similar recognition.
The need for tighter control was brought into focus by cases involving Mineke Kamper, a self-styled but unqualified homeopath in Mayo. Kamper told two patients she was treating not to attend doctors. Both died from curable conditions. Jacqueline Alderslade, 55, died in July 2001 from complications relating to asthma, and Paul Howie, 49, died in April 2003 from a treatable tumour in his neck.