Developing a Quality Standard for Acupunture

Held on 8th June 2022 at the University of Westminster, London.

Download or read the full report here: Quality Standards Report 2022

PR statement

Mike Saks

Appointment of Lead Accreditation Officer of the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board

Nina Paterson has been appointed to succeed the long-serving Harriet Lansdown as Lead Accreditation Officer of the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board (BAAB) from early January 2023 onwards. As such she will be working closely with the rest of the BAAB team, including Vivien Shaw, the Accreditation Officer.

We are delighted to welcome Nina to our midst as she is an established leader in both the health and higher education community. She has a wealth of parallel experience to bring to the post, following the very positive and modernising lead accreditation role for the BAAB played by Harriet over the years.

Nina has for a number of years been the Education Lead and, more recently, Interim Assistant Director, Workforce and Education, at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), where she has worked since 2004. In these roles she has been responsible for programme recognition, advising the Quality Assurance and Enhancement Panel, linking with physiotherapy education providers to develop and deliver contemporary programmes fit for CSP recognition. She also represented the profession in dealing with high-level external stakeholders.

She has wide experience in managing committees, validations and quality assurance processes, having worked closely with over seventy higher education providers running pre- and post-registration programmes across the United Kingdom. She is a great believer in both a strategic approach and partnership working when implementing accreditation standards at national level – regularly liaising with other health and social care professional and regulatory bodies in the process.

Qualified to Master’s level, Nina has guest lectured on a number of different pre- and post-registration health programmes on subjects such as compassionate leadership and professional ethics. She is also an ILM, ICF and EMCC recognised executive and business performance coach working mostly with leaders within the higher education and health sector, as well as having very helpful experience of budgetary management commensurate with her new role.

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PR Statement

Jasmine Uddin, Vice Chair British Acupuncture Accreditation Board

Appointment of Chair of the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Prof Raymond Playford as Chair of the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board. He will succeed the current Chair Prof Mike Saks on 1st January 2023.

Prof Playford brings a wealth of relevant knowledge in the areas of higher education, research and regulation with senior-level experience in public and corporate affairs, representing organisations in the public, commercial, regulatory and charitable sectors. In addition, he supports a holistic approach to healthcare issues, including the use of traditional/complementary medicine such as acupuncture.

Prof Playford brings a wealth of relevant knowledge in the areas of higher education, research and regulation with senior-level experience in public and corporate affairs, representing organisations in the public, commercial, regulatory and charitable sectors. In addition, he supports a holistic approach to healthcare issues, including the use of traditional/complementary medicine such as acupuncture.

He has an interest in good governance and quality control for health-related educational provision. He has extensive senior management experience in HEIs, reflected in the current positions he holds as a member of the Policy and Education Committee of the General Osteopathy Council and as Chairman of the Herbal Medicine Advisory Committee (HMAC), MHRA, which ensures the compliance of herbal products sold in the UK with EU/UK regulation on traditional herbal registration. Although acupuncture does not fall within the remit of the HMAC Committee, the HMAC benefits from a diverse membership, including TCM practitioners who are also acupuncturists. It is through interactions such as these that he is already well acquainted with some of the issues affecting the TCM and acupuncture profession.

As Chief Education and Training Specialist at Healthcare UK (UKTI, DoH, and NHS) he was successful in facilitating multi-million GBP educational/training international contracts on behalf of hospitals, FEIs and HEIs, thus demonstrating his ability to influence stakeholders across businesses and government. His management experience in HEIs includes previously being Deputy Vice Chancellor/Vice Principal at Plymouth University and at Queen Mary, University of London (with a focus on health and NHS-related matters), and Head of Gastroenterology, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College. He is also past President of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.Prof Playford is currently Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of West London, Adjunct Professor at the School of Medicine, University College, Cork, and a visiting consultant gastroenterologist at St Georges Hospital in London.

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Held on June 8th 2022 at the University of Westminster, London

Introduction and Aims

This event brought together a range of leading experts to discuss the future for acupuncture in the UK with a focus on education and training.

Acupuncture is increasingly accepted as a valid and effective healthcare intervention, and has been found to be safe, cost effective and popular with patients. Different professional groups and opposing schools of thought have resulted in a wide variation in the standards of training and education for acupuncturists and health professionals delivering acupuncture in the UK. Additionally, there are differences in approach, such as those between traditional and western medical acupuncture. This makes it challenging to provide a common quality standard for the profession which can meet patients’ needs in the developing healthcare landscape. This event aims to explore how a common quality standard for acupuncture might be achieved and enhanced through increased mutual understanding; and reconcile our differences through developing common shared packages with different principles.

Download or read the full report here: Quality Standards Report 2022