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Regulation for Energy Healers
This page is posted to give standing information on
the current position regarding Regulation for people working as energy healers
in the
This page will be updated from time to time as
appropriate.
Date of posting: 30th March 2007
The
House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Report
In November 2000, the
Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords published a report into
its findings into the Complementary Alternative Medicine (
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldselect/ldsctech/123/12301.htm
At the end of this page I have reproduced the
recommendations of the Report together with the response from the Government.
It is worth taking the time to read through this document if you have not seen
it before. The recommendations of the Report are shown in blue and the
Government’s response is shown in black. Although not the most recent of
documents, it has not been superceded by any other inquiries
or investigations and represents therefore the current position of the
Government which has the responsibility for establishing the legal framework
within which we operate. It covers all
CAM therapies, not just energy healing, and is an important historical document
because it represents the starting point for CAM therapies to gain their
appropriate places in mainstream healthcare in the
Reproduction is under the terms of Crown Copyright Policy Guidance issued
by HMSO (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office).
Copyright is owned by the Crown and information on reproduction rights
may be found on the HMSO website at
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/reproduction-of-legislation.htm
.
Key issues arising for the energy healing sector are
the quality of training, the development of a system of Self Regulation and the
need for research to be undertaken into the results of the application of
healing energies to the same medical research standards as more conventional
medical treatments.
The
Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health
HRH Prince Charles is well
known for his interest in holistic ways of living and healthcare and for his
philosophy that we should try to develop sense of community and to live in more
harmonious ways with the natural environment. His work in these areas is
represented by a group of charities of which he is President and which are
known collectively as the Prince’s Charities. Please go to http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/personalprofiles/theprinceofwales/atwork/theprincescharities//index.html
to view these.
One of the Prince’s charities that is relevant to the work of energy healers is the Foundation
for Integrated Health (FIH) which can be found at www.fih.org.uk. One of the objectives of the
Foundation is to promote the use of complementary therapies alongside
conventional healthcare methods where appropriate.
Subsequent to the House of Lords publishing
its findings and recommending self regulation within the healing energies
sector, FIH was awarded funding of 900,000 UK Pounds by the Department of
Health to undertake a three year project to identify the best way forward for
self regulation for different alternative therapies. The project is now
entering its third and final year. Part of the Department of Health funding has
been used to support the Reiki Regulatory Working Group at http://www.reikiregulation.org.uk/
The
Reiki Regulatory Working Group
The work of the Reiki
Regulatory Group is outlined in its website together with minutes of all
meetings which may be downloaded. Key
highlights to date are the undertaking of a consultative process to discuss
possible options for self regulation and to arrive at a preferred solution for
self regulation. The overall objective is to establish a regulatory structure
by the summer of 2008. The RRWG does not appear to issue newsletters and the
only way to keep up to date with its work is to visit its website from time to
time.
The
Impact of Self Regulation
It will not be mandatory for
energy healers to participate in any Self Regulation regime and they will be
free to operate outside it. It should be noted, however, that with energy
healing started to become an acceptable therapy on the fringes of the National
Health Service, it is unlikely that therapists will be able to work in any
publicly funded organisation unless they are accredited as meeting minimum
standards as either established by the self regulatory organisation or by the
publicly funded organisation. Additionally, energy healers might find
themselves at a competitive disadvantage in the market place if they are not
accredited as some students may prefer to find accredited teachers.
The Report
Recommendations and the Government Response
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS SELECT
COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY'S
COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for
Health
By command of Her Majesty
March 2001
INTRODUCTION
This Report publishes the results of the first ever
comprehensive Inquiry into Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in the
There has been increased public interest in and use
of
The Committee’s Report articulates the changes that
are needed. The Government welcomes the Report, and believes its main
recommendations will help protect the interests of patients and other
consumers. If taken seriously by both orthodox and complementary medicine, the
Report could also bring significant benefits to medicine as a whole.
This document reproduces each of the Report’s
recommendations in turn, and provides the Government’s response to them.
GROUPING OF
THERAPIES
1.
The Report began by organising therapies into three
separate groups. These were described as follows:
The Government believes that, in general, patients,
consumers and healthcare practitioners will find it helpful, at least for the
time being, to differentiate between therapies in the way the Report proposes.
It could help identify approximately the stage various therapies have reached
in their professional organisation, the roles they may be able to play in
healthcare generally, and what is known of the relative risks involved in their
practice.
However the Government accepts that the
categorisation is necessarily broad in nature, and it need not imply that all
therapies in each category have identical features.
In some circumstances there may also be scope for
some therapies to be allied for a specific purpose across the boundaries of the
proposed groupings. For example the Government considers that, for the purposes
of professional self-regulation, those aspects of the traditional therapies
listed in Group 3a which include the use of herbal remedies could come together
within a federal grouping of therapies in Group 1 under the general heading of
herbal medicine, while still retaining their individual identities and
traditions. It may also be possible to bring within Group 1 those aspects of traditional
therapies which practise acupuncture. Under the general headings of herbal
medicine and acupuncture, there would therefore be scope to protect the public
by affording statutory recognition to large parts of these more traditional
therapies (See also Recommendation 8).
Introduction (Chapter 1)
2. More detailed quantitative information is required on the
levels of CAM use in the United Kingdom, in order to inform the public and
healthcare policy-makers, and we recommend that suitable national studies be
commissioned to obtain this information (para 1.21).
The Government accepts that more knowledge of the
extent to which various CAM therapies are used in the UK, and the reasons why
people use them is desirable although perhaps not strictly essential. For
practical reasons, any national survey would inevitably be limited to a sample
of the population. The Government has decided to test the issue from several
different perspectives. The Department of Health has commissioned the
Foundation for Integrated Medicine to conduct an assessment of existing reports
on consumer preferences in
Evidence (Chapter 4)
3. Diagnostic procedures must be reliable and reproducible and
more attention must be paid to whether CAM diagnostic procedures, as well as
CAM therapies, have been scientifically validated. We agree that this is an
issue that should always be kept in mind when doing research in this area (para 4.16).
The Government recognises that
The NHS Research and Development Health Technology
Assessment Programme has a Diagnostic Technologies and Imaging Panel which
prioritises research in this area. The programme has prioritised and
commissioned CAM research in the past and could consider
4. In our opinion any therapy that makes specific claims for being
able to treat specific conditions should have evidence of being able to do this
above and beyond the placebo effect. This is especially true for therapies
which aim to be available on the NHS and aim to operate as an alternative to
conventional medicine, specifically therapies in Group 1. The therapies in our
Groups 3a and b also aim to operate as an alternative to conventional medicine,
and have sparse, or non-existent, evidence bases.
Those therapies in our Group 2 which aim to operate as an adjunct to
conventional medicine, and mainly make claims in the area of relaxation and
stress management, are in lesser need of proof of treatment-specific effects
but should control their claims according to the evidence available to them (para 4.18).
The Government agrees with the need for strong
evidence beyond the placebo effect to support the use of any complementary
therapy in Groups 1 and 3 on the NHS. The test proposed – i.e. that any
treatment that makes specific claims should have evidence of benefit above and
beyond the placebo effect – is a tough one. However this is the right standard
to set for therapies in Groups 1 and 3, especially as the report goes on to
accept that therapies which are mainly about relaxation and stress management
and make only limited claims, need not satisfy this particular test. NICE will
obviously comment on the type and quality of the evidence available in cases
which come before it.
The Government understands that traditional herbal
medicine systems from outside the western tradition can be supported by very
substantial bodies of research data but that in many cases the studies
purporting to demonstrate efficacy have not so far been replicated under the
rigorous conditions that would be required in order to gain wide credence in
orthodox western medicine. The Government expects
5. We recommend that if a therapy does gain a critical mass of
evidence to support its efficacy, then the NHS and the medical profession
should ensure that the public have access to it and its potential benefits (para 4.37).
As already mentioned, the Government agrees with the
need for strong evidence beyond the placebo effect to support the use of
therapies on the NHS. However in the final analysis it must be for the NHS
clinician or healthcare practitioner with lead clinical responsibility for the
individual patient to judge whether, when and how an individual patient could
benefit from the use of a particular therapy. Wherever possible the patient
should be actively involved in this process and in any agreed plan for his or
her treatment or therapy. (See also the response to recommendations 43 and 44).
The National Electronic Library for Health and NHS
Direct Online will in due course make evidence concerning CAM therapies as
widely available as possible to clinicians and managers, patients and the
public, carers, patient representatives and advocates. The Government will also
continue to be open to opportunities for NICE to
evaluate individual
Regulation (Chapter 5)
6. We recommend that, in order to protect the public, professions
with more than one regulatory body make a concerted effort to bring their
various bodies together and to develop a clear professional structure (para 5.12).
7. We recommend that each of the therapies in Group 2 should
organize themselves under a single professional body for each therapy. These
bodies should be well promoted so that the public who access these therapies
are aware of them. Each should comply with core professional principles, and
relevant information about each body should be made known to medical
practitioners and other healthcare professionals.
Patients could then have a single, reliable point of reference for standards,
and would be protected against the risk of poorly-trained practitioners and
have redress for poor service (para 5.23).
The Government believes professional self-regulation
works best when it operates as an open and transparent partnership between the
profession, patients and the wider public. These stakeholders clearly deserve
better than the current fragmented regulation of certain
8. It is our opinion that acupuncture and herbal medicine are the
two therapies which are at a stage where it would be of benefit to them and
their patients if the practitioners strive for statutory regulation under the
Health Act 1999, and we recommend that they should do
so. Statutory regulation may also be appropriate eventually for the non-medical
homeopaths. Other professions must strive to come together under one voluntary
self-regulating body with the appropriate features outlined in
wish ultimately to aim to move towards
regulation under the Health Act once they are unified with a single voice (paras 5.53 and 5.55).
The Government accepts that, at this point in their
development, and bearing in mind certain public health risks, it would be desirable
to bring both acupuncture and herbal medicine within a statutory framework as
soon as practicable. The Government has held preliminary discussions with
organisations representing each therapy.
The Government is prepared to consider the
possibility of extending statutory regulation for other therapies if there is a
case for it, and there is a unified professional body which has the support of
most members of its profession for pursuing that option. Representatives of the
aromatherapy profession have already expressed an interest in statutory
regulation, and others may wish to do so.
As the Report concludes, therapies outside Group 1
are likely to function in a different way. The case for statutory regulation of
those therapies may be therefore harder to establish and may follow a different
course.
Before inviting Parliament to exercise the powers of
the Health Act 1999 to recognise any
9. We recommend that each existing regulatory body in the
healthcare professions should develop clear guidelines on competency and
training for their members on the position they take in relation to their
members' activities in well organised CAM disciplines; as well as guidelines on
appropriate training courses and other relevant issues. In drawing up such
guidelines the conventional regulatory bodies should communicate with the relevant
complementary regulatory bodies and the Foundation for Integrated Medicine to
obtain advice on training and best practice and to encourage integrated
practice (para 5.79).
The Government agrees that each statutory regulatory
body in the conventional healthcare professions which make significant use of
CAM therapies should develop clear guidelines for its members on both the
competences and training required for the safe and effective practice of the
leading CAM therapies, in consultation with the relevant CAM regulatory bodies
and the Foundation for Integrated Medicine.
10. We encourage the bodies representing medical and non-medical
CAM therapists, particularly those in our Groups 1 and 2, to collaborate more
closely, especially on developing reliable public information sources. We
recommend that if CAM is to be practised by any conventional healthcare
practitioners, they should be trained to standards comparable to those set out
for that particular therapy by the appropriate (single) CAM regulatory body (para 5.83).
The Government also wishes to encourage all bodies
which represent practitioners who provide one or more of the CAM therapies in
Groups 1 and 2 to work together to develop reliable public information which
conforms to the quality standards publicised by the National Electronic Library
for Health and NHS Direct Online. NHS Direct Online and the National Electronic
Library for Health will, over time and where authoritative research is
available, include information on
The Government supports the training of conventional
healthcare practitioners to standards agreed with the appropriate
11. We recommend that the MCA find a mechanism that would allow
members of the public to identify health products that had met the stringent
requirements of licensing and to differentiate them from unregulated
competitors. This should be accompanied by strong enforcement of the law in
regard to products that might additionally confuse the customer with claims and
labelling that resemble those permitted by marketing authorizations (para 5.93).
The Government agrees that it is desirable that the
public should have clear information on the regulatory status of products. For
all medicines which are the subject of a marketing authorisation it is a legal
requirement under European law that the product licence number is stated on the
labelling. In European discussions about the proposed directive on traditional
medicinal products, the Medicines Control Agency has advocated that there
should be a requirement for consumers to be given explicit information about
the significance of a registration under the proposed directive. As currently
envisaged this may take the form of a label marking. The Government will
continue to pursue these issues within
12. We strongly recommend that the Government should maintain their
effective advocacy of a new regulatory framework for herbal medicines in the
United Kingdom and the rest of the European Union, and urge all parties to
ensure that new regulations adequately reflect the complexities of the
unregulated sector (para 5.95).
The Government welcomes the recognition of its work
to advocate the case for an improved European regulatory framework for safe,
traditional herbal remedies. The European Commission recently circulated to
member states a preliminary draft of a directive on traditional medicinal
products. The Medicines Control Agency, as a priority, will continue to
participate actively and constructively in continuing development work on this
issue at both European and domestic level with a view to putting in place a
national scheme for these remedies within a secure European legislative
framework.
The Government takes the view that any single
legislative or other measure is unlikely to address the full range of issues
and problems presented by the unregulated sector. However, an effective
directive on traditional medicinal products would represent a major step
forward.
13. We are concerned about the safety implications of an
unregulated herbal sector and we urge that all legislative avenues be explored
to ensure better control of this unregulated sector in the interests of the
public health (para .97). The wide range of herbal products on the
market span a number of regulatory categories including foods and
cosmetics as well as medicines.
The Government accepts that for products classified
as medicines there is a weakness in the regulatory arrangement for unlicensed
herbal remedies provided for under Section 12(2) of the Medicines Act 1968. The
best prospects for resolving this problem lie with the introduction of a
national scheme within the framework of the proposed European directive on
traditional medicinal products. Potentially, this could provide a legally
secure regime effectively balancing consumer choice and public safety. The
Government is currently encouraged by progress on the directive but will keep
the position under review and in the event that this initiative founders will
consider what alternative approaches may be available.
The Government’s view is that in principle the cover
of a European directive would be necessary in order to replace the provisions
of Section 12(2) with systematic regulatory arrangements within medicines law.
The Government welcomes the Committee’s support for the position that herbal
medicines should be regulated under medicines law rather than in a less
regulated environment.
The MCA is consulting on proposals to make permanent
the prohibition in unlicensed medicines of the toxic ingredient Aristolochia and of other herbal ingredients at
risk of confusion with Aristolochia. The
Government will take any further action necessary to protect the public from
specific health risks of this kind. In addition, to promote an understanding
of, and compliance with, the current medicines law relating to unlicensed
medicines the MCA has established an information base (Traditional ethnic
medicines, public health and compliance with medicines law) on its website.
14. We support the view that any new regulatory regime should
respect the diversity of products used by herbal practitioners and allow for
simplified registration of practitioner stocks. Nevertheless, any such regime
must ensure that levels of quality and assurance of safety are not compromised
(para 5.98).
The Government agrees that future regulatory
arrangements relating to the ingredients and products used by individual herbal
practitioners should safeguard quality and safety standards while recognizing
the diversity of practice. We aim to clarify and if necessary improve
regulatory arrangements covering the varied situations which can arise, ranging
from the practitioner using crude or partially processed herbal ingredients to
make up individual remedies to the situation where the herbalist buys in mass
produced finished products. Regulatory arrangements should in particular reflect
the extent to which the practitioner is in a position to take personal
responsibility for the safety and quality of the remedy supplied to the
consumer.
The Government will hold discussions with herbal
interest groups to consider the way forward. In the light of this we will
consider whether any changes in domestic legislation would be required in order
to reach a satisfactory regulatory position and the extent to which
requirements for responsible good practice attaching to the herbalist
profession could play a greater role in ensuring the
safety
and quality of materials practitioners use.
Professional Training and Education (Chapter 6)
15. Establishing an independent accreditation board along the lines
of the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board is a positive move. Other
therapies with fragmented professional representation may wish to use this as a
model (para 6.20).
The Government agrees that the use of accreditation
boards can be an effective way of bringing together representatives of fragmented
professions to establish robust common standards of education for their
profession. Where several regulatory
bodies
are involved, it will be important to ensure that any accreditation board is
completely independent of the institutions being accredited and is part of a
move towards regulation of that therapy by a single body.
16. We recommend that
(para 6.33).
17. We suggest that the CAM therapies, particularly those in our
Groups 1 and 2, should identify Continuing Professional Development in practice
as a core requirement for their members (para 6.34).
The Government considers that all qualifications in
CAM should be assessed by the regulatory body which grants the licence to
practise the
The Government would like all
18. We consider that it is imperative that higher educational
institutions and any regulatory bodies in
The Government supports this recommendation.
19. We recommend that training in anatomy, physiology and basic
biochemistry and pharmacology should be included within the education of
practitioners of therapies that are likely to offer diagnostic information,
such as the therapies in Groups 1 and 3a. (para 6.43).
20. We recommend that every therapist working in
21. We recommend that all
22. We recommend that all CAM therapists should be made aware of
the other
The Government supports these recommendations. It is
Government policy to encourage the inclusion of certain core elements in every
vocational qualification, and this feature is being developed for health
professional programmes in the NHS Plan. The above recommendations would apply
that general principle to
It is a basic function of all healthcare regulatory
bodies to concern themselves with the competence of those who practise their
profession. This will mean defining standards of competent practice and
encouraging all providers of education and training in
23. We conclude that there should be flexibility for training
institutions to decide how to educate practitioners. It is the relevant
professional regulatory body of a specific
24. We recommend that, whether subject to statutory or voluntary
regulation, all healthcare regulatory bodies should consider the relevance to
their respective professions of those elements set out in paragraph 6.55 (para 6.62).
The Government concurs with these recommendations.
25. We recommend that therapies with a fragmented professional
organization work with Healthwork UK to develop
National Occupational Standards, and we encourage the Department of Health to
further support Healthwork UK's activity with such
therapies; we believe that this would be of long-term benefit to the public (para 6.70).
The Government welcomes the work that Healthwork
A strong health sector National Training Organisation
is important in delivering the Government’s modernisation agenda. In the light
of the NHS Plan, the Government is working with Healthwork
26. We recommend that familiarisation should prepare medical students
for dealing with patients who are either accessing
27. We recommend that every medical school ensures that all their
medical undergraduates are exposed to a level of
28. We recommend that Royal Colleges and other training authorities
in the healthcare field should address the issue of familiarisation with CAM
therapies among doctors, dentists and veterinary surgeons by supporting
appropriate Continuing Professional Development opportunities (para 6.85).
30. We recommend that the UKCC work with the Royal College of
Nursing to make CAM familiarisation a part of the undergraduate nursing
curriculum and a standard competency expected of qualified nurses, so that they
are aware of the choices that their patients may make. We would also expect
nurses specialising in areas where CAM is especially relevant (such as
palliative care) to be made aware of any
A later section of the Report makes recommendations
about the provision of information on
information
available on the safety and efficacy of
However the Government believes that courses which
aim to give healthcare practitioners some familiarisation in
29. The General Osteopathic and Chiropractic Councils, and any
other regulatory bodies, should develop schemes whereby they accredit certain
training courses aimed specifically at doctors and other healthcare
professionals, and which are developed in conjunction with them. Similar
schemes should be pursued by dentists and veterinary surgeons (para 6.95).
The General Osteopathic and General Chiropractic
Councils are empowered under their respective Acts to formally recognise
qualifications. The General Osteopathic Council already recognises a
qualification for doctors. The Government would encourage other
Research (Chapter 7)
31. To conduct research into the
The questions the report identifies are important
questions to address when considering research on a particular
invested
in the most productive areas.
Given the limited research capacity in this area and
the barriers to developing a research culture in CAM, the feasibility of the
research should be an important consideration, for example where there are
opportunities to develop high quality research programmes which can act as
"models" or "beacons" of research excellence in CAM. The
identification of priorities for research should also take account of whether
the nature of a treatment, the condition being treated, or the scale of use,
creates an exceptional public health need to gain evidence of safety or
efficacy.
32. We recommend that CAM practitioners and researchers should
attempt to build up an evidence base with the same rigour as is required of
conventional medicine, using both Randomised Controlled Trials and other
research designs (para 7.26).
The Government agrees that an evidence base for
Enhancing the evidence base in an area such as
33. To achieve equity with more
conventional proposals, we recommend that research funding agencies should
build up a database of appropriately trained individuals who understand
The Government has recognised the need to involve
appropriate experts on relevant panels and committees or through the peer
review process. For example in commissioning projects covering CAM the Health
Technology Assessment programme invited comments from appropriate peer reviewers
through the Research Council for Complementary Medicine.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) will be developing
databases of research experts who are familiar with the issues raised by
34. We recommend that universities and other higher education
institutions provide the basis for a more robust research infrastructure in
which
schools,
be established with the support of research funding agencies including the
Research Councils, the Department of Health, Higher Education Funding Councils
and the charitable sector (para 7.57).
37. We recommend that the NHS R&D directorate and the MRC
should pump-prime this area with dedicated research funding in order to create
a few centres of excellence for conducting CAM research, integrated with
research into conventional healthcare. (para
7.102).
Recommendations 34 and 37 seem to address the same
issue.
The current capacity for research in this field and
the scale of current research make it premature to talk of setting up separate
centres of excellence. Research capacity cannot be created simply by forming
academic posts – clinical trials, as in conventional medicine, depend also on
commitment, attitudes and competence of practitioners in the field.
We recognise the need to develop the research
capacity in this field. It is important that high quality researchers are
developed and the Department is considering the best way to achieve this
objective. We will be asking the NHS R&D Workforce Capacity Implementation
Group to consider research capacity development needs in
Proposals for CAM research can be considered through
the usual funding mechanisms of the Department of Health and the MRC, and some
The Department welcomes proposals for
However it is important that links should continue to
be made between researchers already working in or interested in this area with
a view to developing and strengthening research networks, which in turn will
encourage the production of high quality research into
35. Bodies such as the Departments of Health, the Research Councils
and the Wellcome Trust should help to promote a
research culture in CAM by ensuring that the
academic posts, offering time for research and
teaching, should be established (para 7.67).
The Government is aware of the need both to promote better
understanding of research in the complementary medicine field, and to develop
better quality research conducted by practitioners in this field. We are also
aware that there are a number of qualified and experienced researchers
interested in research into
The Government has started to promote a research
culture by forging links between
The development of workforce capacity in healthcare
research is an important element of the NHS R&D Strategy. The NHS R&D
Workforce Capacity Implementation Group has addressed research capacity
development needs in a number of different professions and relevant
disciplines, including the therapy professions. NHS R&D support for
research capacity development ranges from research training courses and
bursaries to high level awards for research leaders of the future and is being
provided through a mix of regional and national schemes. These are open to a
wide range of professions including
The Department will ensure that these opportunities
are made more widely known to the
We do not consider that separate University posts devoted
to
Group to consider research capacity
development needs in
36. We recommend that companies producing products used in
The Government considers that, since
Information (Chapter 8)
38. We recommend that the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination
work with the Research Council for Complementary Medicine (RCCM), the UK
Cochrane Centre, and the British Library to develop a comprehensive information
source with the help of the Centralised Information Service for Complementary
Medicine (CISCOM) database, in order to provide comprehensive and publicly
available information sources on CAM research, and that resources be made
available to enable these organizations to do so (para
8.21).
As stated earlier, the Government expects the
National Electronic Library for Health and NHS Direct Online to be the main conduits
through which information on the most authoritative
International initiatives also provide useful sources
of information. The National Center for Complementary
and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health in the
USA (NIH) is dedicated to exploring complementary and alternative healing
practices in the context of rigorous science; training CAM researchers; and
disseminating authoritative information. They have recently launched a
complementary component to their website with a database of over 220,000
abstracts, reference and articles. The Department of Health will initiate
discussions with the CRD about this recommendation although any resultant
proposals requiring additional resourcing will need
to be considered alongside other priorities for research and development.
39. ……Consequently we support the plans of the Department
of Health to make information on
patients (and their doctors) evaluate different