I am dismayed to note that complementary therapists are now able to register with the CHNC. Ben Bradshaw, the health minister who is also so keen on the non-evidence based ‘iwantgreatcare.org’ doctor-rating website, is reported as saying:  “I welcome the opening of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) register…which the public can turn to for help. Members of the public who use these therapies will be able to check whether the practitioner they’re seeing is registered with the CNHC. If they are, they have the reassurance of knowing that they have had to meet minimum standards of qualification … Practitioners too will benefit by increased public confidence. Public safety is paramount. Registration, whether voluntary or statutory, is about protecting patients, and I am pleased to see this important milestone in voluntary registration.”

This is nonsense. What about protecting the public from ineffective interventions? Or false hope, wasted time and effort or indeed, potential harm? What is the point of improving “public confidence” in things that don’t work? (And “alternative” therapies which do work are taken up into orthodox medicine.)  Bradshaw would be serving the public far better by advising them to be cautious when engaging with healthcare interventions which have not been proven to work. Isn’t that the best way to “protect” patients? And, incidentally, Bradshaw’s signing off line — “People should always seek their GP’s advice to ensure that any other therapy they use does not conflict with orthodox treatment” — is the epitome of weasel words: how can a GP ethically end up taking responsiblity for things he or she doesn’t prescribe or suggest?