Why are Doctors reluctant to Refer to Complementary Therapists?

Dr Toh Wong

How you can solve this problem for them and your patients
Every person in the United Kingdom has a right to be registered with a General Practitioner (GP) and thus have access to full NHS (National Health Service) services. This means that everyone you are likely to see, has a GP and many of them will have consulted a GP about a problem that they may see a Complementary Therapist for.
Imagine what it could do for you as a therapist to get recommendations from a full-time GP who sees over 100 patients a week? Yet, many GPs are reluctant to refer. We suggest you download a copy of the document referred to below.

In the article published by the BMA in 2003 by the GPC (General Practitioner’s Council) Guidance for GPs about Referrals to Complementary Therapists, the BMA recognises the increased availability of complementary therapies that may be recommended by GPs. It suggests that GPs may prefer to suggest that patients visit a particular type of therapist without actually making a formal referral. It goes on to suggest that they may then offer to recommend ‘a suitable individual’. In doing so, however, they must satisfy themselves that the individual is competent in the therapy concerned. Remember, GPs are only contractually obliged to refer within the NHS, so much of complementary medicine falls outside this contractual obligation.
The article goes on to state that many GPs will not wish or feel able to advise a patient to consult a complementary therapist and will therefore not wish either to delegate or refer. In those cases, the GP should make it clear that they have no objection to the patient consulting whomsoever they wish, and will not criticise or victimise the patient should they choose to do so.
The article then goes on to talk about what delegation and referral is. It is unlikely that GPs will refer, but the above guidance certainly suggests that there is no harm in a GP recommending a therapist they know and trust. Imagine what you could do with this knowledge you now have and imagine what it could mean for the Medical Doctors you shared this with.

Dr Toh Tsung Wong MBChB(Hons) MRCGP DRCOG DCH LMCC

Dr Toh Wong is a Medical Doctor, GP Principal in Devon, and GP Trainer, as well as the Co-founder of Neurolinguistic Healthcare Ltd who organise the annual Integrative Health Convention. He passionately believes in the integration of Conventional and Complementary Therapies to aid in health and healing.
For a summary of the actions that Dr Wong recommended at the Integrative Health Convention to take in order to become a therapist that a GP knows and trusts, please contact Heleen at ThinkTree Hub, requesting an emailed copy.