Latest Information from NTC

Monday 16th January 2012

Which? Report on Nutritional Therapy

The Nutritional Therapy Council has not seen the details of the Which? report into nutritional therapy and we were not involved in its inception or design. We have not been asked by Which? for our input in the assessment of practitioner performance.

We would hope to find that the report was prepared in an unbiased manner and that information collected was evaluated by a panel that included qualified and experienced nutritional therapists, who could assess the performance of the targeted practitioners against the National Occupational Standard, which was prepared by Skills for Health, the sector skills council for healthcare. As in other professions, assessment of practitioner performance should involve experts from that profession.

The Nutritional Therapy Council was established to raise standards of training and practice in Nutritional Therapy. We established voluntary regulation and registered over 600 practitioners before handing over registration to the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) in 2009. If there are issues of practitioner underperformance or concern, we would expect them to be pursued with the CNHC, the body responsible for practitioner regulation.

The Nutritional Therapy Council provides the accreditation process for training courses in nutritional therapy, to ensure that students are taught to the Core Curriculum to meet the National Occupational Standard. There are now a number of fully accredited degree, Masters degree and higher education diploma courses in Nutritional Therapy. We would therefore be interested to know how practitioners in the Which? report were selected, where they were trained, and if they were registered.

Furthermore, we welcome the opportunity to work with other organisations in the nutrition field to improve standards and regulation.

Accreditation of the Nutritional Therapy PGDip/Master’s Degree Course at the University of Worcester

The Nutritional Therapy Council is pleased to announce that full accreditation has been awarded for the PGDip/MSc in Nutritional Therapy at the University of Worcester, effective September 2011.

This is the third Postgraduate course to be accredited by the NTC against the National Occupational Standard (NOS) in Nutritional Therapy. A number of degree and diploma qualifications have also been accredited.

NTC Accreditation recognises the high standard of these courses in delivering the Core Curriculum for professional nutritional therapy practice. Graduates of NTC-accredited courses are eligible for immediate registration with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), which is recognised by the Department of Health for regulation of complementary healthcare professionals.

The National Occupational Standards are developed and updated by Skills for Health, www.skillsforhealth.org.uk which is the Sector Skills Council for the healthcare sector, licensed by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills.

Only training providers whose courses successfully achieve full Accreditation can advertise that course as accredited by the NTC and use the NTC logo on advertising material and course prospectus.

With the transfer of the register to the CNHC, the NTC has a new focus. It will now develop its role as the Professional Standards Council for Nutritional Therapy, developing education and training standards for the profession. This will include: 

• Accreditation of courses to the National Occupational Standards

• Updating the Core Curriculum for training providers
• Providing support and advice to training providers

The NTC has a number of other projects in development including registration for specialist practitioners and teachers in nutritional therapy, and a Return to Practice scheme. Professional Associations representing Nutritional Therapists working at the level of the National Occupational Standard are offered representation on the NTC council.