The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health
What is a Federalist Regulatory Structure and how will it affect
the Shiatsu Society? read more...
The Shiatsu Society and the Regulation Programme read
more...
The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health
What is it?
Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health (POWFIH) was set up by the Prince
of Wales Charitable Foundation (POW), a consortium established in 1979 by the
Prince of Wales, of over 16 charities and receiving over £100 million
per annum. The aim of the FIH charity, which receives over £1,000,000
per annum from the POW Charitable Foundation, is the active promotion, support
and facilitation of the integration of complementary healthcare with mainstream
medical healthcare. The rationale behind this is provision of more individual
choice and access to the full range of therapies, and the resulting empowerment
of the population with regard to health and well-being.
Amongst the goals of the POWFIH are promotion of research, education and
training, dissemination of information, fundraising and development of
a range of models of integrated healthcare provision. It maintains an up-to-date
website with much information on all its activities, and useful links: www.fihealth.org.uk
What is a Federalist Regulatory
Structure and how will it affect the Shiatsu Society?
Statutory Regulation was required by the government for the more invasive
complementary therapies, such as Acupuncture, Herbalism, Osteopathy and
Chiropracty, as there was more apparent potential hazard in mistreatment.
Voluntary Self regulation was advised for the ‘safer’ therapies
such as Shiatsu, Bowen, Alexander Technique etc. Following a commissioned
report by Professor Julie Stone, a federalist structure of self regulation
was suggested as the most useful model. This would involve a number of
therapies coming together under the umberella of one regulatory body. This
would be both economically sound, and provide better safeguard for the
public in the long term.
Coming together under one independent regulatory body would ensure some
consistency of high standards in all the therapies with regard to training,
qualification, registration, insurance, research, auditing, health and
safety, infection control, ethical standards and complaints procedures,
and criminal records bureau checks. This would ensure the safety of the
public and accountability of the complementary healthcare professions to
the public.
A three year Regulation Programme has been set up by the FIH, with £900,000
funding from the DOH, to facilitate the complementary therapies to prepare
for voluntary self-regulation and to set up an independent representative
regulatory body. The FIH provides training, support and some funding. The
therapies that have so far joined the programme are as follows: each has
presented itself as a unified forum for regulation:
Alexander Technique Voluntary Self-Regulation Group
Aromatherapy Consortium
Bowen Forum
Cranial Forum
Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths
General Council for Massage Therapy
Reflexology Forum
Reiki Regulatory Working Group
British Council for Yoga Therapy.
The Shiatsu Society and the Regulation
Programme
The Shiatsu Society has applied to join the Regulation Programme. It hopes
that this will help Shiatsu as a therapy to achieve even higher standards
of excellence and accountability in practice, and become more readily available
through the NHS, have greater opportunity for research and for sharing
of information. It is represented as part of the General Shiatsu Council,
an organisation established to prepare Shiatsu for regulation.
Under a Federalist Regulator, the Shiatsu Society would still maintain
its own training schools and curriculum and would advise the regulator
on its own criteria for practice and registration. However, the regulator
would oversee the maintenance of standards and be responsible for registering
practitioners and maintaining the register, and this would be the preferred
register for all the complementary therapies, that GPs would access for
referral. Whether the Shiatsu Society would hand over its register to the
regulator, or would still maintain its own register alongside that of the
regulator, is not yet clear.
Whereas the Shiatsu Society would represent
and protect the profession of Shiatsu and its professional standards, the
Regulator would represent the public, and the requirements of the public,
and have many Lay Members on its Management Committee to present public
interests.
Shiatsu
Society (UK). P O Box 4580,
Rugby CV21 9EL tel: 0845 130 4560 fax: 01788 555052
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