What is next? A Royal College of window-salesmen?

A few weeks ago, The College of Chiropractors, a Company Limited by guarantee, was given a royal charter. A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch, granting a right or power to an individual or an corporate body. They are used to establish significant organisations such as cities or universities.

This is how the event was protrayed by chiropractors:

Rarely granted, a Royal Charter signals permanence and stability and, in the College of Chiropractors’ case, a clear indication to others of the leadership value and innovative approach the College brings to the development of the chiropractic profession. The Royal Charter essentially formalises the College’s position as a unique, apolitical, consultative body, recognising its role in promoting high practice standards and certifying quality and thus securing public confidence.

For those of us who are not familiar with the College, here is how they describe themselves and their history:

On the advice of a senior medical figure, an organisational model similar to that of a Medical Royal College was devised. Thus, the College of Chiropractors was conceived during 1997 and incorporated in 1998 as an independent body to develop, encourage and maintain the highest possible standards of chiropractic practice for the benefit of patients.

Over the next couple of years the embryonic ‘College’ grew with a regional faculty infrastructure, the mainstay of the organisation, becoming firmly established in order to foster education locally. As an independent body, separate from any of the political groups, members were able to share information and expertise from all areas of the profession. Following its incorporation in October 1998, the College of Chiropractors was formally launched on 28th April 1999 at the King’s Fund.

The College is now an academic membership organisation with almost 3000 members worldwide, and the following objectives:

• to promote the art, science and practice of chiropractic;
• to improve and maintain standards in the practice of chiropractic for the benefit of the public;
• to promote awareness and understanding of chiropractic amongst medical practitioners and other healthcare professionals and the public;
• to educate and train practitioners in the art, science and practice of chiropractic;
• to advance the study of and research in chiropractic.

From my perspective, this begs numerous questions; here are just some of them:

1) Have UK chiropractors truly been promoting “high practice standards and certifying quality and thus securing public confidence”?

I would argue that they have been doing the opposite. They made bogus therapeutic claims by the hundreds on their websites, and when Simon Singh had the courage to make this public, they sued him for libel. Call me old-fashioned, but I fail to see how this maintains “the highest possible standards of chiropractic practice for the benefit of patients” nor how this might “promote the art, science and practice of chiropractic.”

2) Is it truly for the benefit of the people that so many chiropractors deny the considerable risks of spinal manipulation?

I would have thought that this is a serious disservice to the people and the health of the nation and believe it reflects an irresponsible disregard of the precautionary principle in health care.

3) How can we accord the high aims of the College with the fact that UK chiropractors demonstrably violate fundamental rules of medical ethics, e.g. informed consent, and that their professional bodies must be aware of this fact, yet have so far failed to do anything about it?

I think there is a discrepancy here that needs explaining.

4) Does the College truly “advance the study of and research in chiropractic?”

We have shown that UK research into chiropractic has not increased but decreased since statutory regulation. This leads me to suspect that regulation is being abused as a means of gaining recognition and not as a mechanism to protect the public.

Considering all this, I find that the status of the other Royal Colleges has been de-valued by the ascent of this organisation. And I ask myself WHAT NEXT? A COLLEGE OF WINDOW SALES-MEN, perhaps? Or would this giving a bad name to the poor window-salesmen?