“An integrative approach to personal, patient and planetary wellbeing” The AIMA NZ Conference 2020 is New Zealand’s leading event for the integrative medicine community. A ‘must-do’ for all doctors, health practitioners, students and members of the public who want to open their minds to the advantages that integrative medicine can provide to their lives and […]
As natural therapies grow in popularity, efforts to regulate the industry and curtail public use have increased. But are these efforts about control rather than science, and are they restricting our access to well-researched, lowrisk therapies that may improve public health? Read the full article by Linda Moon published in The Saturday Paper 24 August […]
Submissions to the Medical Board of Australia’s public consultation on a separate set of guidelines for ‘complementary and unconventional medicine and emerging treatments’ closed on 30 June. We’ve heard that the integrative medicine community really responded to the call to action with over 10,000 submissions received. Thank you to everyone who took the time to […]
The deadline for participating in our survey to hone and refine our interprofessional communication module is fast approaching. We’re seeking input from all community stakeholders – doctors, naturopaths, allied health practitioners, complementary medicine practitioners, education institutions and registration and peak bodies – everybody! The amazing AIMA Interprofessional Communication Working Group have developed a series of […]
The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) is consulting on options to further regulate medical practitioners who practice ‘complementary and unconventional medicine and emerging treatments’. Many patients are most concerned that the introduction of a new set of guidelines for their doctors will compromise their ability to access the healthcare of their choice. The new guidelines […]
A working partnership between doctors and naturopaths is the obvious future for our professions and for the wellbeing of patients and practitioners. We all now know that the tsunami of chronic illnesses that we are facing are predominantly lifestyle and environment related. The doctor is skilled at gathering the history, bringing clarity to diagnosis and […]
On the 20th of March 2019 AIMA formally wrote to the MBA to request an immediate and full retraction of the ‘public consultation paper on clearer regulation of medical practitioners who provide complementary and unconventional medicine and emerging treatments.’ On the 28th of March 2019 the MBA advised AIMA that our request was denied and […]
Listen to AIMA President talking with Andrew Whitfield-Cook from FxMed about the Medical Board of Australia consultation on proposed guidelines for complementary and unconventional medicine and emerging treatments.
As many of you may be aware the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) has commenced a public consultation on new guidelines for ‘complementary and unconventional medicine and emerging treatments‘. In the rationale to these guidelines integrative medicine (IM), and AIMA, are specifically mentioned. Our concern is that, if adopted, these guidelines and the associated discussion paper/rationale would create a 2 tiered system which could threaten the practice of IM and lead to integrative medicine doctors being unfairly and unreasonably targeted. (read the guidelines here)
AIMA met with representatives of the Medical Board of Australia including the MBA Chair, Dr Anne Tonkin on 6 March 2019. In this meeting we were assured that these guidelines were not intended to target IM but rather were specifically aimed at unsafe practices. While we accept this reassurance at face value, the actuality is that as IM is specifically mentioned in the rationale, these guidelines COULD apply to us. The MBA seemed receptive to listening to our concerns and agreed to extend the consultation process by four weeks to allow our community time to respond.
Even if these guidelines were not intended to target IM this is precisely what the discussion paper does.
It is imperative that we, as a community, come together to challenge the adoption of these guidelines. AIMA and a number of other IM organisations (ACNEM, A5M, BioBalance Health, ACIIDS, NICM) and independent doctors have been meeting to coordinate our responses to the guidelines. Each organisation will be making a response specific to their concerns and area of practice. However, this is not enough. We need you, our community, to let the MBA know how these guidelines could effect your practice and impact on your patients’ freedom of choice.
What can you do?
You can view AIMA’s major concerns with the proposed guidelines here.
The AIMA Interprofessional Communications Working Group (AICWG) was formed at the AIMA conference in Sydney in 2016 following a session on how to foster and facilitate better communication between doctors and other practitioners. Since then the working group – comprised of doctors, academics and complementary and natural health practitioners – has been collaborating to create a communications tool to assist in clear, relevant communications between medical professionals. We’re delighted to announce that the AICWG have recently completed the ‘Interprofessional Communication AIMA Guiding Principles for Letter Writing’ which is ready to be sent out for public consultation. (Watch this space for notice of the consultation process)…