Lucy wrote this project back in , and it was on the old site. I thought it was still interesting reading. It is interesting at the time in , integrating complementary therapies into midwifery was becoming more accepted. The Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health FIH aims to facilitate the development of safe, effective and efficient forms of healthcare to patients and their families by supporting the development and delivery of integrated healthcare.
This means encouraging conventional and complementary practitioners to work together to integrate their approaches. The Foundation acts as a forum to promote and support discussion and as a centre for driving forward the integrated healthcare agenda.
It focussed on the issues surrounding regulation and standards for practice and practitioners in the area of complementary therapies in maternity care.
It was an interesting programme of international speakers attended by over midwives, obstetricians, gynaecologists, nutritionists and complementary therapy practitioners, mostly UK based. The majority of speakers were medical practitioners within the NHS or education, some trained in therapies, some not. Consequently issues of regulation of practise and accountability were much in the foreground throughout the two days.
Complementary therapists in their own right were also speaking. Their issues primarily concerned research, the practise of their discipline, and the logistics of integration as limited by regulation. Delegates were mainly midwives, some either trained, or interested in training in a complementary therapy, predominantly massage, or in using certain techniques and remedies in practise.
