Chiropractic Live

Chiropractic Live

Communication between General Chiropractic Council’s Peter Dixon and the associations after they made the case that Coats position as Registrar was untenable

This correspondence has been released by the GCC under Freedom of Information. The first letter is Peter Dixons response to the meeting the GCC had with the associations in November when they outlined in detail why Margaret Coats was not a competent Registrar and the associations response which I blogged about in December.The main letter to the GCC is now in the hands of a journalist, Its a just a question of whether the story is important enough to print.

Having been saying Coats was not a competent registrar for ten years its great to see the associations finally coming on board as we get closer to Coats point of no return. I did not think the BCA leadership had the stomach for this battle and I am delighted to be proved wrong. I have kept my CPD up to date, and I look forward to calling myself a chiropractor again.

The council would like Coats to retire with her head held high (LOL) and Dixon stay on as chair. Coats would probably prefer grounds for constructive dismissal against the council and a big pay day. The impasse will probably continue for a few months but the story will break and if they dont go quickly they will bring down the GCC when they fall, the council members all knew how Coats operated but they looked the other way. I have many letters and e-mails from Dixon, stroking my ego, thanking me for bringing my concerns to his attention. Thats just the way Dixon operate,s it does not mean he will do anything, however other council members must be starting to get woried now regarding his ability to hold it together as he has done in the past.

Note Dixons comment “we note the associations position of support for statutory regulation of the chiropractic profession for which you fought long and hard . No longer a WE. Its Margaret, her poodle and the Skeptics against the chiropractic profession.

Richard Lanigan

Richard Lanigan DC.BSc (Chiro) MSc( Health Promotion) was born in North London 1957 of Irish Parents and was educated in Ireland. Originally trained as a PE teacher, he moved to Denmark 1979, where a serious knee injury got him interested in rehabilitation and training methods. Richard founded Denmarks premier fitness centre "Sweat Shop" in 1982 and travelled all over the world to find how best to prepare athletes for competition. In 1984 he became fitness and rehab consultant to the Danish national badminton teams, handball teams and many football club sides. This approach to optimal performance is normal in 2010, however back in the early 80s it was very revolutionary, when stretching was limited to putting on your socks and knee injuries were immobilised for months in plaster.
Richard developed rehabilitation and fitness programmes for many of Denmark’s top athletes including Kirsten Larsten and Ib Frederickson, all England singles badminton champions in late 80s. "Team Denmark" hired him and his facilities to help prepare many of Denmarks athletes for the LA and Seoul Olympics. In 1990 he worked with Anya Anderson, Olympic gold medallist and voted worlds best female handball player at the Atlanta Olympics.
Richard advised Copenhagen’s main teaching (Rigs) Hospital on starting their rehab facility in 1984. In the same year he started working with Denmarks leading chiropractor; Ole Wessung DC, who demonstrated the effectiveness of Chiropractic in improving athletic performance, so impressed was Richard that in 1990 he moved back to England to study chiropractic at Anglo European College of Chiropractic and was student president for two years between 1993-1995.

Richard was awarded a fellowship by the College of Chiropractors in 2008, however in January 2009 Richard chose to stop using the title chiropractor in the UK because the British regulatory body for chiropractic (The GCC) had not maintained international standards of chiropractic education in the UK and including prescribing medicines in the chiropractic scope of practice, a fig leaf for incompetent UK chiropractors to hide behind. Richard has another clinic in Dublin and is a member of the Chiropractic Association of Ireland and the European Chiropractic Union.
Richard has four children Eloise aged 3, Molly and Isabelle aged five and the eldest Frederik aged twenty one is pursuing a career as a professional tennis player and has represented Norway in the Davis Cup in 2006 & 2007. None of Richards children have ever taken any medicine, www.vaccination.co.uk they eat healthy food, take lots of exercise and have their spines checked every month, www.familychiropractic.co.uk
Richard has had much experience working in the Cuban health service where Doctors are keen to incorporate drug free interventions (acupuncture and chiropractic) and prevention in their health care programmes www.henryreevebrigade.org