CNHC

The CNHC ('OfQuack') Misled the Cranial Forum, Documents Suggest

Sat, 10/17/2009 - 20:57

Earlier this evening I stumbed across the minutes of the meetings of the Cranial Forum, a body set up in 1999 to look at voluntary self-regulation in craniosacral therapy, a form of alternative medicine whose practitioners believe manipulation of the spine and skull can treat various ailments.

In recent months they have been debating affiliation with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, the government-funded alternative medicine regulator dubbed "OfQuack" by critics. Browsing through the relevant minutes, I found something rather interesting.

OfQuack: Insights from the Latest CNHC Board Meeting

Wed, 09/09/2009 - 12:58

The CNHC have released the minutes of their July board meeting, and the contents provide a fascinating insight into the actions of the alternative medicine regulation company dubbed 'OfQuack' by critics. In this post I'll trawl through a wealth of titbits concerning their response to criticism, openness, and the activities of Mandate, the PR company they're spending public money to hire.

Transparency:

Drowning in Alphabet Soup: The Wider Battle for Health Regulation

Sun, 08/02/2009 - 16:35

This is an article about Simon Singh, but more than that about the wider issues at stake. In recent months I've written about the BPS, BACP, GCC, BCA, CNHC, and other unimaginative groups of letters that act as regulators or professional bodies for auxilliary health industries in Britain. Simon Singh's battle against the BCA is one chapter in a broader story that links all these cases together. In this post, I want to take a step back, and explore that wider story.

There are four distinct but related stories that have bubbled along for months now (among many others). The CNHC ('OfQuack') are a hapless alternative medicine "regulator" set up by an alt med charity run by Prince Charles at considerable expense to the taxpayer.

'Ofquack' Hire PR Heavyweights

Fri, 05/29/2009 - 08:26

[bpsdb] Thanks to my sharp-eyed colleague at Thinking Is Dangerous, it's come to my attention that the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (aka "Ofquack") have finally posted some of the board minutes they promised to make available, from their May 2009 quarterly board meeting.

The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council's Approach to Transparency

Wed, 02/18/2009 - 13:19

[bpsdb] Recently, I joined a number of other bloggers in writing about the new alternative medicine "regulator" (to use a very liberal definition), the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, nicknamed OfQuack. Observers like me were somewhat puzzled by the idea of the Department of Health paying substantial sums of money to enable industry lobbyists to set up a regulator their own industry. Our concerns appear to have been justified by the current outbreak of censorship on the site.

OfQuack: The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council

Thu, 02/05/2009 - 14:10

[bpsdb] The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, or "OfQuack", is a new government-funded "voluntary regulator" which is supposedly going to "regulate" the alternative medicine industry - although minutes released from their meetings suggested they have a keen interest in advertising on behalf of the industry too. Understandably, this body has been met with considerable criticism. Other bloggers have tackled this subject, (including the excellent Andy Lewis, and some wag who actually registered the OfQuack.org.uk domain name), so I thought I'd provide a definitive article about them, and also do a little digging around to see if I could dig up anything that others have missed.