The Authority assesses organisations, which hold registers of healthcare practitioners not regulated by law, against our Standards of Accreditation. The Society of Homeopaths’ accreditation has been renewed subject to the following Condition.
1. The Society of Homeopaths must:
a. make its position statements clear that registrants must not practise or advertise adjunctive therapies that are incompatible with Society registration. Specific reference must be made to the Society’s position forbidding the practice of CEASE, and dietary/nutritional supplements. This must be submitted to the Authority for review and published within three months
b. make its position statements clear that registrants’ scope of practice does not allow registrants, whether acting in a professional or public capacity, to provide advice on vaccination or offer or provide homeopathy as an alternative to vaccination for the prevention of serious infectious diseases. Registrants should direct service users to NHS and other public health sources, for example, their GP or public health departments. Revised statements must be submitted to the Authority for review and published within three months
c. provide quarterly reports of its monitoring to ensure that within the following 12 months all registrant websites comply with its updated position statements (as referred to in part a above)
d. complete and make available to the public its guidance on adjunctive/supplementary therapies and inform the Authority how it will promote compliance with that guidance.
When is a Condition issued?
A Condition is issued when the Accredited Register does not meet one or more of the Standards for Accredited Registers and is required to complete a specific action within a specified timeframe in order to comply.
What happens next?
The Society of Homeopaths must make changes to comply with the Condition.
The Authority has set a timeframe for the Society of Homeopaths to make these changes (as detailed within the Condition). Once this time has elapsed, the Authority will review the actions taken by the Society of Homeopaths and consider whether the Condition is met. If the Condition has not been met, the Authority may seek further information from the Society of Homeopaths or may extend the timeframe for the Society of Homeopaths to comply. The Authority can then initiate proceedings to suspend a register due to its non-compliance.
Further information about the Accredited Registers programme can be found in our FAQs.
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
Contact:
Christine Braithwaite
Director, Policy and Standards
Email: Christine.Braithwaite@professionalstandards.org.uk
Reception: 020 7389 8030
Email: info@professionalstandards.org.uk
Notes to the Editor
- The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care oversees 10 statutory bodies that regulate health and social care professionals in the UK.
- We assess their performance and report to Parliament. We also conduct audits and investigations and can appeal fitness to practise cases to the courts if we consider that sanctions are insufficient to protect the public and it is in the public interest.
- We also set standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for health and social care occupations and accredit those that meet them.
- We share good practice and knowledge, conduct research and introduce new ideas to our sector. We monitor policy developments in the UK and internationally and provide advice on issues relating to professional standards in health and social care.
- We do this to promote the health, safety and wellbeing of users of health and social care services and the public. We are an independent body, accountable to the UK Parliament.
- Our values are at the heart of who we are and what we do. We are committed to working with integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and as part of a team.
- More information about our work and the approach we take is available at www.professionalstandards.org.uk