Britain Passes "Chiropractors Act"

Story of a Legislative Campaign

In 1990, I took over as chairman of the BCA Parliamentary Committee and began frequent meetings with the department of health. They advised that to gain legislation, three things had to happen:

• all groups of chiropractors had to support it;
• statutory regulation (licensing) should have the support of the medical profession; and
• registration would have to be preceded by a report making recommendations for legislation.

It later became clear that to achieve all this, a great deal of work would have to be done. In 1991, I sold my London practice and was employed by the British Chiropractic Association to work to gain statutory regulation. I continued to practice in Chelmsford, Essex.

In England there are currently 900 chiropractors. About 575 British Chiropractic Association members have internationally recognised standards of training. The remainder are mainly McTimoney and McTimoney-Corley chiropractors with less intense training. Agreement was reached amongst the different groups based on a levelling of standards to those equivalent to the European Council on Chiropractic Education (ECCE) within five years of registration (licensing) coming into force. The Chiropractic Registration Steering Group was formed, with myself as chairman.

The agreement of the medical profession was difficult at this time. I deliberately avoided formal meetings and was very grateful for the help of Lord Kindersley who held a private dinner party to which the senior members of the medical profession were invited. Fortunately, most of those invited attended the dinner party and those present agreed with the principle that chiropractors should be qualified in order to practise. Some meetings were held with senior members of the medical profession following the dinner party.

Once the agreement of the medical profession had been obtained, I met with Robert Maxwell, chief executive of the King's Fund. Subsequently, the King's Fund agreed to sponsor a Working Party under the chairmanship of Sir Thomas Bingham, who is a very well-respected member of the legal profession, the second most senior judge.

This Working Party, consisting of chiropractic, medical practitioners and one lay person, met over a period of 18 months before issuing its report. The report recommended the statutory regulation of chiropractors (licensing) and set out a practical means of this happening.

The report was launched in the presence of H.R.H. the Princess of Wales, on 5th May last year. I spoke, together with Robert Maxwell from the King's Fund and Professor Shaw, a medical member of the Working Party, and the press conference was widely covered in the national newspapers, due to the presence of the Princess of Wales.

The launch of the King's Fund Working Party report was timed to be just before the World Chiropractic Congress in London later in May. During the Congress, a lunch was held attended by Tom Sackville, one of the health ministers, who spoke with myself to an audience of members of Parliament (MPs), peers, and chiropractors.

This was followed up by a meeting I had with the health minister and opposition party health spokespersons. Through these meetings, based on the King's Fund Wokding Party report, the support of government and both main opposition parties was gained. There then followed a concerted campaign with chiropractors throughout the country lobbying their members of Parliament.

In November last year, the "private members" bill ballot took place. This provides an opportunity for MPs, who are successful in the ballot, to introduce any legislation they wish. There is a limited amount of time allowed for private members' bills and to be successful they must have no opposition. Otherwise, they can easily be "talked out" and run out the parliamentry time.

My own MP, Tony Newton, Leader of the House and Lord President of the Council, was especially helpful at time. I met with David Lidington, who was already interested in chiropractic and had been successful in the ballot, and as a result of the meeting he agreed to introduce our bill. Lord Walton, a member of the King's Fund Working Party and former president of the British Medical Association and General Medical Council, introduced the bill in the House of Lords.

Unlike in the U.S., the act makes no attempt to define chiropractic or scope of practice. Essentially the act is "enabling" legislation which creates a General Chiropractic Council. The General Chiropractic Council then oversees the registration of chiropractors (licensing) and the promotion and development of the profession. The act provides professional self-regulation, i.e., the profession governing itself, free to determine its own future.

We would like to acknowledge the financial help received through the WFC from the ACA and ICA, as well as the loan received from the ECU, which we hope will be converted into a grant. Our thanks also go out to Professor Kliger and staff at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic. A visit to the college gave many key individuals an insight into our profession and its education, research, and training.

Many individuals have helped from inside and outside of the profession. The main work has been undertaken by the Chiropractic Registration Steering Group, with myself as chairman.

Ian Hutchinson, DC
President, British Chiropractic Association