Sunday 24 May 2009

Complaint to Victoria Chiropractic submitted

Following my last post, I've now officially complained to Victoria Chiropractic, Woking, to give them an opportunity to get their website in order before a complaint to the GCC. Here's the complaint:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Following my previous emails I would now like to make a complaint about Victoria Chiropractic Clinic, which unless adequately resolved I will be forwarding on to the General Chiropractic Council.

I have two complaints to make, as I believe in each case you are breaching GCC regulations.

My first complaint relates to the use of the title "Dr" to describe Jeremy Spanton on your website. I believe the use of this term is misleading, as members of the public may be led to believe that Jeremy Spanton is a medical doctor. Whilst Nichola Worril states that she has a PhD, there is no such explanation of Jeremy Spanton's use of the title. I have searched the General Medical Council's register and find no Dr Spanton, and therefore assume he is not a registered medical practitioner.

I would like to refer you to GCC regulations which state that members:

"must not use any title or qualification in such a way that the public may be misled as to its meaning or significance. In particular, chiropractors who use the title of ‘doctor’ and who are not registered medical practitioners must ensure that they make it clear that they are registered chiropractors and not registered medical practitioners"

My second complaint relates to you page entitles "What we treat". On this page you claim that chiropractic is beneficial for children suffering from colic, amongst other conditions. However, you provide no evidence to back up these claims. I would like to refer you to a recent Advertising Standards Authority adjudication against a chiropractor named Carl Irwin, which stated that:

"We considered that, whilst some of the studies indicated that further research was worth pursuing, in particular in relation to the chiropractic relief of colic, we had not seen robust clinical evidence to support the claim that chiropractic could treat IBS, colic and learning difficulties."

The adjudication also instructed Irwin: " not to refer to the treatment of IBS, colic and learning difficulties in future."


I should remind you that GCC regulations state that members:

"may publicise their practices or permit another person to do so consistent with the law and the guidance issued by the Advertising Standards Authority."

Your claims are clearly not consistent with ASA guidance, and therefore are not permitted by the GCC.

I therefore request that you clarify Jeremy Spanton's qualifications on your website and remove any claims for which robust evidence is not available. I would also like you to acknowledge this complaint and confirm your intent to resolve these issues as soon as possible. Should I recieve no response, or not be satisfied with your response I will be submitting a complaint to the GCC and may also complain to Trading Standard.

Yours sincerely

1 comment:

  1. Hi,
    While I dont agree with a lot of your views, or Simon Singhs, you have every right to have them and you made your case well and it is down to the chiropractic profession to convince you otherwise not a judge.

    Being rather opinionated myself I have been on the receiving end of many legal letters from the BCA and GCC in my time, suits with time on their hands and lacking the intelect to make a good case for chiropractic.

    I would be the kind of chirxxx, (I am not allowed to call myself a chiropractor since I resigned from the GCC register in January) you guys describe as a quack, who would say to a woman with menstrual pain stimulating mechano receptors in the spine has an inhibitory effect on pain transmission (Wall and Melzack gate theory of pain)and may help her menstrual pain or a childs colic or back pain. None of my 4 kids has ever had so much as a spoonfull of Calpol ages 22-3,perhaps we have just been lucky. Quacks like me are the price you pay for free speech.

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