It appears very likely that we will have to join forces with another Regulatory Authority if Chinese Medicine is to be included under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act.

An email this week from Mary-Louise Hannah from the Ministry of Health reinforced that the Minister has said that there will be no new Regulatory Authorities formed by the Ministry. This means that if the Minister does approve our profession to be included under the Act then we will have to negotiate with other groups and form a combined RA. Some RA's already represent more than one group so this is not a major issue for us.

Despite being told that we would likely hear before the end of September of the Minister's decision, it is likely that any announcement will be delayed until after the election at the end of November. We've waited this long already - another few weeks or months will really make no difference. The important thing is to get it right.