After many years on the 'fringe' of the world of medicine, many of the disciplines of Complementary Health are now beginning to be recognised as viable and effective adjuncts to more conventional treatments. So much so, that there is an emerging notion that it should be referred to a 'Supplementary' rather than 'Complementary'.

The old expression of 'Alternative Medicine' is being used less and less these days, since it tends to indicate that such treatments are instead of rather than supplementary to the conventional treatments delivered by medical Doctors and Consultants. Until fairly recently, the individuals who delivered these natural therapies were not controlled or subject to any regulation - which meant that there has, in the past, been something a rash of less-than-well-trained people purporting to offer all sorts of odd therapies and treatments.

Now, though, things are beginning to change and many of these erstwhile unregulated 'professions' are being subject to strict rules, ethics and criteria for both training and practice. The Health Professions Council (HPC), formed in 2003, currently regulates these 13 professions:Arts therapists, biomedical scientists, chiropodists/podiatrists, clinical scientists, dietitians, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, orthoptists, paramedics, physiotherapists, prosthetists & orthotists, radiographers, speech & language therapists. All of these professions have at least one professional title that is protected by law, including those shown above which means that anyone using the titles 'chiropodist' or 'Art Therapist', for example, must be registered with HPC and therefore subject to a strict regulatory code.

Currently, a regulatory code for the psychological professions is being instigated by HPC, though it is anticipated that it may not be in force until c. 2011. This will cover psychotherapy and psychology though there are many 'offshoots' of these two disciplines (such as NLP and CBT) and it has not yet been decided how these should be incorporated.

Osteopathy was one of the first, if not the first to be regulated and they are controlled by the General Osteopathic Council.