The Earl of Clanwilliamasked Her Majesty's Government:
What arrangements are required to allow practitioners in herbal medicine to be recognised by the: Department of Health, assuming that they have passed the four-year course at the School of Herbal Medicine and are members of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Hooper):The department does not recognise the qualifications of practitioners of alternative and complementary therapies, and only those practitioners who are registered with the General Medical Council are eligible to work within the NHS. The department's stance is that it has no wish to restrict the practice of alternative and complementary therapists, including practitioners in herbal medicines, who are thus free to offer their services privately subject to those provisions of statute and civil law which apply.