The Chiropractors Act 1994 andopening of the GCC register 1999
The long journey towards statutory regulation began in 1975 when the BCA
applied, unsuccessfully, for chiropractors to register under the Professions
Supplementary to Medicine Act. Later in 1982, when I was BCA President for
the first time, David Chapman-Smith (WFC) and I spoke to 26 MPs inparliament and a BCA Parliamentary Committee was formed. A great deal of
initial work was done under both myself and Michael Copland-Griffiths aschairs in the 1980s.
In 1983/84 I met two people who were to help us over the years, Lord
Kindersley and Sir James Watt, at dinner parties held by HRH The Prince ofWales. Sir James, as President of the Royal Society of Medicine, initiated aseries of eight Colloquia on Conventional and Complementary Medicine. Three of these wereattended by Prince Charles. At the seventh, Baroness Trumpington as Health Minister suggested“across the board” registration of complementary medicine practitioners.
A Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine was formed and I spoke at the 1985 launchwith former Prime Minister Lord Home. However, this approach to registration was unsuccessful.
Later in 1990, I met with Peter Ediss, Department of Health, and discovered that the osteopaths had
made substantial progress towards statutory regulation. Peter advised me that our regulation would
have to be via a Private Member’s Bill and be preceded by;•••

the support of ALL chiropractors
the support of the medical professiona Report recommending such regulation.

In March 1991 the Chiropractic Registration Steering Group was formed with representatives fromall the professional chiropractic associations plus Peter Ediss and Sir John Bailey as observers.
Meetings were held with the medical profession but the major breakthrough occurred at a 29thMarch 1991 dinner party held by Lord Kindersley attended by key leaders of the medial profession,
which gained their consensus towards statutory regulation.
Meanwhile, a King’s Fund Working Party on Osteopathy had been established. In July 1991 theKing’s Fund agreed a Working Party on Chiropractic. After a long process, this reported on 5th May
1993 in the presence of HRH The Princess of Wales, attracting publicity in 6 national newspapers,
TV and radio. At the World Chiropractic Congress, later in May, Tom Sackville (Health Minister) and I
appealed to the 40 odd MPs present to support a Private Member’s Bill.
On 2 December 1993 I met with David Lidington who agreed to take our Private Member’s Bill which
was steered through the Lords by Lord Walton.
In June 1994, Steering Group members attended the final parliamentary stage of the longest Private
Member’s Bill to go through parliament. We went off to celebrate with David Lidington. The final stepon a long journey had been made.
Royal Assent took place on the 5th July 1994 and exactly 5 years later on 5th July 1999 the firstchiropractors were registered – 25 and 20 years ago respectively.
Ian Hutchinson DC, FRCC, FBCA - former Chair of the Chiropractic Steering Group Ltd, Memberof the King’s Fund Working Party on Chiropractic and former President of the British Chiropractic
Association 1981-1983 and 1993-1995.