David Newgreen. We wish to thank them along with all the members of the Victorian Department of Human Services TCM Review Committee, and the State Administration of TCM (China) for their kind assistance.

We finally wish to acknowledge our appreciation to the Faculty of Health at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur in creating academic release time for the Project Director and the provision of full facilities to undertake this project.

This Report on the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine is the most significant and comprehensive study ever undertaken in Australia for any form of non-conventional medicine. It is also of significant international importance in its formal identification and analysis of adverse events related to the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine. No comprehensive review of this nature has been found in the international literature.

The profile of the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine has changed worldwide over the last two decades prompting a number of reviews of its practice internationally. The principal aim of these reviews has been to assist governments to form policy to deal with the growing professional practice of TCM. A number of overseas western jurisdictions have now legislated some form of professional regulation of the profession and these are reviewed in this report.

The nature of TCM stirs substantial epistemological debate within medicine, which in some contexts challenges the core of our common understandings of health, illness and accepted methods of treatment. These debates are vibrant and constructive and will, no doubt, be around for some time. Concerns over professional territory in primary contact health care practice have also been raised, and this most directly touches the essence of this review. The Australian public increasingly exercise choice in health care and use complementary therapies either separately or in combination with western medicine. Yet at all times, the responsibility of providers and government is in creating and maintaining successful, safe and cost-effective options for health care delivery. The primary concern of this Report on the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Australia is to identify the best mechanisms currently available to achieve those ends as regards TCM.

Whilst the review of the workforce in TCM and their patients has been limited to Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, all other aspects of this report have extended beyond state and national boundaries. We are confident that the findings reported here can be extrapolated to form a national picture of the practice of TCM. The recommendations for reform derived from this report are outlined in the Executive Summary along with the Summary of Recommendations. These recommendations should, as far as possible, be implemented as an integrated package in order to achieve the desired purpose of creating optimal safety in the delivery of Traditional Chinese Medicine.