CAM providers

CAM services are provided in a variety of settings, and by a wide range of providers and practitioners.

Who provides CAM services in New Zealand?  

• The majority of CAM services (excluding the self-prescription of products) are provided by CAM practitioners in private practice.  These practitioners usually have some training in one or more CAM modalities (for more information see the section on Training). 

 

• Some CAM practitioners are based in multidisciplinary clinics that may also offer mainstream general practitioner (GP) services.  Other practitioners operate informally out of their own homes.

 

• Some GPs practise CAM themselves, and some others refer patients to CAM practitioners for treatment.

 

• Some other mainstream health professionals, such as nurses and physiotherapists, also practise CAM therapies and use them to treat their patients as appropriate.

 

·        Traditional healers, such as tohunga and fofo, may provide services out of a combined practice (with GPs and other health professionals), from private practices, from home, or by home visits.  Most traditional healers either operate out of their own homes, by home visits, or a combination of the two.

 

• Many health food stores and pharmacists provide advice on CAM products such as vitamins, minerals, herbal remedies and homoeopathic medicines.

 

• Many people self-prescribe CAM products without seeing a practitioner.  This can be in the home (using food products for medicinal purposes), by purchasing products at the supermarket (such as vitamins, minerals or herbal-based products) or by purchasing products from pharmacies. Traditional knowledge that has been passed down, often through the family, is also frequently used to diagnose and treat conditions.

 

How many CAM providers are there? 

CAM practitioners

• The New Zealand Charter of Health Practitioners (known as the Charter), which represents around 8,500 CAM practitioners, estimates that there are currently approximately 10,000 CAM practitioners in New Zealand.  The Charter estimates that this constitutes about 85 percent of those providing CAM services in New Zealand[i].

 

GPs who provide CAM services

• There are no up-to-date, comprehensive statistics on the number of New Zealand GPs currently offering CAM services to their patients.

 

• A study carried out in 1990 surveyed the use of ‘alternative’ therapies by Auckland GPs.  Thirty percent of the respondents stated that they personally practised one or more forms of ‘alternative’ medicine.  Two-thirds reported they would refer patients for alternative treatment[ii].

 

• A postal survey conducted in 1988 found that 24 percent of doctors who took part had received some training in ‘alternative’ therapies, with 54 percent wanting further training in the field.  Eighty percent of the doctors who responded referred patients on to non-medically qualified alternative health practitioners[iii].

 

Other mainstream health professionals who provide CAM services

• No figures are currently available on mainstream health professionals (for example, nurses or physiotherapists) who also offer CAM.

 

Traditional healer

• There are no estimates of the number of traditional healers currently practising in New Zealand. However, the estimated figure of 10,000 CAM practitioners provided by the New Zealand Charter of Health Practitioners (see above) does include some traditional healers

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[i] Personal communication with Patrick Fahy, Chief Executive Officer of the New Zealand Charter of Health Practitioners, July 2001.

 

[ii] Marshall R, Gee R, Israel M, et al. 1990. The use of alternative therapies by Auckland general practitioners.  New Zealand Medical Journal 103 (889), pp 213-15 (9 May 1990).

 

[iii] Cox, M. 1998.  Alternative health providers/practitioners and dietary supplementation.  MSc Thesis in Physiology.  Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington.

   

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