What other legal and professional requirements might I have to comply with?

This will, of course, depend entirely on the nature of the therapeutic work which you do. The following list details the most likely additional legislative requirements that you may need to comply with:

• the Health and Safety Act
• various licences and permissions
• any by-laws and Acts specific to your region or location
• local authority inspections
• planning permission.

Health and Safety Act

This Act governs the health and safety of people in the workplace and some of these regulations may apply to your particular therapy. For example, anyone thinking of setting up as a massage therapist would be well advised to check out the requirements for their practice under the Health and Safety legislation. The premises that any massage therapist works from will need to comply with certain legal requirements, such as the need for washable walls and floors so that any oil spillages can be effectively dealt with.

In any case it is good practice to ensure that your working environment is always clean and tidy, and that any potential hazards such as trailing cables are kept away from walkways or are suitably covered. Other hazards could be things such as too low a level of lighting or worn or frayed carpets. It’s your responsibility to ensure that these problems are dealt with.

If you work from rented space in a shared office block or within an existing clinic or practice, you should further ensure both your clients’ and your own safety by reporting any potential hazards to your landlord, managing agent or practice manager. Make sure that the fire alarms or smoke alarms are regularly checked, that the number and type of fire extinguishers are adequate and are maintained annually, and also that the fire exits are not blocked in any way or are locked (a very common practice).

If you are working from home and would find it helpful to have a Health and Safety inspection carried out on your premises, contact your local authority for further help and advice and to arrange an inspection. The Health and Safety Executive offers a national general enquiry service, their contact details are listed in Chapter 12.

Licences and permissions

Depending on the nature of your work, you may need to apply to your local authority for a licence in order to set up your practice. For further information, and to check out the licensing requirements which may apply to your practice, give your local authority a call (Environmental Health or Consumer Protection Division). An alternative is to contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), which will have a list of complementary and alternative therapies and will detail those which require licences or permission to practise.

Location specific Acts

A good example of this is the requirement for massage therapists in London to comply with the London Local Authority Act 1991 – Special Treatment Premises. This requires that the premises the massage therapist is working from comply with current Health and Safety legislation, and allows for the registration of the premises with the local authority as a bona fide massage therapy establishment, i.e. it is not being operated as a cover for prostitution. It may be possible to be granted some exemptions from the provisions of this Act, for example, if you operate as a travelling masseuse (section 4 b ii). For further information, massage therapists in London should contact the Special Treatment Licences Section of their local authority.

Local authority (LA) inspections

If your therapy is one which requires licensing by the local authority or permission to practise, it is likely that your premises will be inspected before any licence or permission is granted. The inspection is simply to satisfy the local authority that your premises and practice meet their requirements under the Health and Safety legislation and any other specific legislation. If any alterations or improvements need to be made you will be notified of these and given a time limit in which to carry out the necessary work. There will then be a further inspection before the licence or permission is granted in order for the local authority to validate any changes that have been made.

You should also notify the LA of any major changes that you make to your premises in order that these can be inspected and passed.

Planning permission

If you are working from home you may need planning permission for your practice. Contact your local authority for further information or for an assessment.

Publishing a code of conduct for your practice

It is very useful to have your own code of conduct (sometimes called a code of ethics or a code of practice) which details for the client the professional conduct to be expected from your practice, the standards you work to and affirms the ethics of your practice. Publishing your code of conduct not only presents you as highly professional, but if you are truly serious about your practice you will want to be setting the standards you work to and this is one way of compiling your own set of competencies.

If you are already a member of a professional organisation you most likely are working to their existing codes, so you might find it helpful to review these and take from them what is useful to your practice and then add your own extras. Don’t forget to review the codes of conduct from other organisations as well as these may help you to formulate your own version.

Any code of conduct should include some or all of the following:

• a definition of the therapy you are using, how it works and basic details regarding what a client can expect to experience in a session
• the standards to be expected
• details of how and when you may be working with other agencies, eg medical personnel
• any legislation that you must conform to
• your equalities statement.

Define your therapy

Briefly describe the therapy, for example the National Federation of Spiritual Healers (NFSH) describes spiritual healing in their code of conduct as:

restoring the balance of body, mind and spirit of the recipient. It is a natural, non-invasive, holistic approach that has the intention of promoting self-healing, to bring a sense of well-being and peace to the recipient.

Give brief details of how it works, and basic details regarding what a client can expect to experience in a session. For example, the NFSH details ‘Contact Healing’ as:

spiritual healing carried out in the presence of the recipient who may be seated or lying in a horizontal position. The healer may lay hands on the recipient or the hands may be held off the body.

Set your standards

The standards can relate to as many aspects of your work as you want them to, for example:

• the practice environment
• your relationship with the client
• your relationship with yourself
• permissible behaviours
• confidentiality
• your records
• your payment policy
• details of your insurance
• confirmation of compliance with both local authority and national regulations
• complaint procedure
• client participation in research
• your qualifications
• your membership of any professional organisations and their contact details

Practice environment

In this part of the code you can state that you will always maintain your practice environment to a high standard, both in terms of equipment and cleanliness, and also in terms of the general atmosphere – effectively ensuring the best possible working environment.

Your relationship with the client

Your working relationship with the client could include facts such as that you will always explain or describe your processes to the client before you commence a treatment, and the client should feel free to ask any questions about their treatment or the processes involved which will be answered honestly. Some codes also include the detail that the therapist will not enter into any kind of relationship with the client apart from the required working relationship.

Your relationship with yourself

This section could include details regarding how you will make every effort to ensure that you are fit to practise and healthy. That you actively recognise your own limits – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and any training or experience limits. You can qualify this by saying that you will not practise if your own limits have been exceeded, and that as far as training goes you will actively seek further training and experiences so that your skill base is constantly added to. You might even like to detail any regular supervision you undergo and/or any commitment you have made to a minimum level of continued professional development each year.

Permissible behaviours

Here you could include a statement to the effect that your behaviour will not include any action which could be construed as indecent assault or harassment. And where the client is concerned you could set out that you will not treat anyone who is under the influence of drink or drugs, for example, or who presents as unstable, aggressive or threatening in their manner. You could further list whether or not your client will be expected to remove any clothing, and if so, what items and what arrangements you have made for their privacy. If you touch the client during your work you could also list what this will involve, for example, gentle massage of the neck and shoulders to assist relaxation.

Confidentiality

Confirm that you will not disclose any personal information gathered during the session without the client’s written consent, unless required to do so by law.

Your records

State that you will keep clear records of any sessions, which will be stored in a safe and secure manner, and will not be disclosed to anyone other than the individual concerned. You could also confirm that your record keeping complies with the Data Protection Act, and that you are registered under the Act, if this is appropriate.

Payment policy

This could also include your cancellation policy. You should detail how payment can be made, for example, cash or cheque or credit card. You should also confirm whether a client needs to pay for each session as they are treated, or whether they need to pay for a block of treatment in advance. It helps if you can set out your fees structure. If you offer discounts or free initial consultations you should also list these and the qualifying factors, for example, evidence of low income for discounts; free initial sessions only last 30 minutes etc.

Insurance details

You should list the insurance cover you have in respect of your practice and confirm how the client can view a copy of your insurance certificate – for example, you could state that it is on prominent display in your office.

Compliance with local authority and national regulations

Wherever you are working from, you should be able to confirm that your practice complies with local authority regulations, and national legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act.

Complaint procedure

You should state that you will respond to any criticisms and complaints promptly and constructively. You should offer some guidelines as to how quickly you will respond to a complaint (this can depend on the method used to present it, for example, you may decide that you can respond to a telephoned complaint the same day, but within three days for a written response to a complaint received in writing). You could also refer the client to the section on professional membership and confirm that as a nature of your membership of these bodies you are subject to their complaints procedure. You might like to present highlights of the set procedure or you could refer the client on to the organisation direct to request a copy.

Client participation in research

If you are going to use any client sessions for research purposes you should set out what this means i.e. that the client will not be able to be identified from the research findings, that written and signed permission will be sought from the client prior to any research being carried out, that you will be following the guidelines of ‘XYZ’ organisation or research methodology (a copy of which you can provide to the client), that you will make clear to the client the nature and purpose of the research.

Qualifications

Here you can state your qualifications and the training you have received. Confirm any titles you are entitled to use, and any abbreviations you are entitled to use after your name – explain what they stand for.

Professional membership

You should list your membership of any professional organisations, state the level of your membership, confirm any abbreviations you are entitled to use after your name and give the contact details for each organisation in order that your client can check your credentials should they so wish.

Working with other professionals

You should include a short statement detailing how you will work with other health care professionals. This could include stating that you recognise the following:

• My service is not an alternative to orthodox medical advice.
• I am aware of and respect the rights of other health practitioners.
• If appropriate I will ask a client if they have seen a doctor concerning their condition, and if not, advise them to do so.
• I accept that if a doctor refers a patient to me, the doctor remains clinically responsible for the patient.
• If a doctor refers a patient to me, I will keep the doctor informed of progress.
• I will not countermand or obstruct any treatments prescribed by a doctor.
• If I am asked to work with a patient in hospital, I will obtain the permission of the ward manager before working with the patient.

Legislation

List whatever legislation is applicable to your practice, and then confirm as appropriate – that you are either working within the legal guidelines, or that you fulfil the legal criteria, or that you comply with the legislation.

Your equalities statement

You need to tailor this to fit your own requirements but your statement could be something along these lines:

I will always treat my clients in a caring and non-judgmental way, treating everyone appropriately and fairly according to their needs and regardless of issues such as race, class, age, gender, background, disabilities, religion, marital status or sexual orientation.