Protecting future ‘Baby Glorias’ from Homeopathic Beliefs

28th September, 2009 18

As I write this, two married Australian homeopaths are spending their first nights in gaol as they begin prison sentences for six and four years respectively for the manslaughter of their baby daughter, Gloria. This is a tragic, not least for the convicted parents. A nine month old baby died unnecessarily in the most horrific way because of her parent’s belief in the superiority and power of homeopathic sugar pills. [read more…]

Homeopaths: Do You Really Want Statutory Regulation?

29th July, 2009 11

This is an open letter to all homeopaths in the UK. It has been a bit of a surprise to me to learn that the Society of Homeopaths is wanting to lobby the Health Professions Council to include homeopathy within its regulation remit. As such, you will receive protected title (only registered homeopaths will be able to call themselves that) and be held against a code of standards and ethics. [read more…]

Nutritional Therapists Fail to Join Ofquack

20th April, 2009 20

The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, Ofquack, is having an appalling start to its life. Needing 10,000 people to join its register in the first year to break even, it has collected less than 300 names. This should be put in context with a claimed “150,000 complementary healthcare practitioners in the UK.” Part of the problem is that, at the moment, Ofquack is only allowing nutritional therapists and massage therapists [read more…]

The Failure of Openness at Ofquack

6th April, 2009 12

I was going to call this post “The Failure of IT at Ofquack”, but I think the failure is a little deeper than computers. The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council have recently put the following announcement up on their web site: Website Hackers We are extremely disappointed to have to share with you that we have had a number of unprecedented attempts by hackers to disable our website. We are [read more…]

Will the Government Bail Out Ofquack?

23rd March, 2009 17

It does not take a lot of analysis to realise that the newly formed Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council is going to be in a desperate financial state quite soon. The CNHC, or Ofquack to its friends, was launched this year after being set up by Prince Charles’ charity, the Foundation for Integrated Health, backed by funding of about £900,000 from the Department of Health. Ofquack is the “national voluntary [read more…]

Prince Charles’ Ofquack is a Dead Duck

7th January, 2008 20

Prince Charles’ Foundation for Integrated Health and its new regulatory quango, the Natural Healthcare Council (or Ofquack, as it is bound to become known), is due to launch in April. Ofquack is designed to be an ‘independent self-regulatory body for complementary therapists. In 2000, the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee looked into the regulation of non-medically trained health workers. It asked the Prince of Wales Foundation to [read more…]