Complementary therapies: the position of the UKCC [practice guideline]

The Council receives many enquiries about its position in relation to the use of complementary therapies in the health services. The Council's position in relation to these therapies is such that it considers their safe inclusion in the care offered to patients and clients to be properly described in three of its publications. These are: the Scope of Professional Practice, the Code of Professional Conduct and the Council's Standards for the Administration of Medicines. In applying the principles in these documents, nurses, midwives and health visitors should not only be able to provide these therapies safely but they will also be acting in a proper manner should they be called to account by the Council. Finally, the Council has no plans to register complementary therapy qualifications, as such activity lies outside its legal remit. A Council position statement on complementary therapies was prepared in November 1994.