The London School of Acupuncture and TCM (LSATCM) was the first acupuncture school in the UK to establish a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) curriculum around the way of diagnosing and treating as it was used in China at the time. The founders had all studied in China, learning in hospitals from senior TCM doctors. Their aim was to develop a practice-based approach as the cornerstone of the course. Students would observe and work under supervision in an on-site teaching clinic. The LSATCM approach enabled students to complete a substantial number of hours of supervised clinical practice, working with a wide range of patients and conditions. This was consolidated by taking responsibility for treatments in their final year. This focus on clinic was revolutionary at the time, and was the pivotal point around which all of the curriculum and teaching methods evolved.
TCM was a rationalisation of Chinese Medicine (CM) from around the middle of the 20th C that put a strong emphasis on disease patterns (Bianzheng) as this enabled the Chinese to integrate CM and Western medicine in their hospital system. The School adopted this approach in its early years , and took advantage of the comprehensive TCM textbooks emerging at this time.
The move to the University enabled wider access to library and online resources, and thereby enhanced engagement in research for both students and staff. The collegial atmosphere of the university, and within the School of Integrated Health facilitated the intellectual development of
Chinese Medicine (CM) education for both students and staff, including critique of TCM and a broadening of debate. As one result, the course name was changed from TCM Acupuncture to CM Acupuncture.
Further developments at Westminster, included
an MSC Chinese Herbal Medicine,
an MSc CM: Acupuncture, and a
Diploma in Qigong Tuina.
In 2004 the School secured a Department of Health grant to develop research in East Asian Medicine, which also led a number of PhD's in topics related to CM.
However, in 2018 the University of Westminster decided to consolidate its provision around more mainstream subjects, and courses with larger intakes, and has closed its CM provision.
The LSA / Westminster course was one of the first to be accredited by the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board.
Colleges of acupuncture began to appear in the UK in the 1960/70s by individuals who had studied together in Europe. Each college emphasised different aspects of Chinese Medicine (CM).
One college focused on the Five Element doctrine (a foundational analytical framework within CM) and has developed this further to the point that Five Element acupuncture Schools can be found in many Western countries (for example, in the UK the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine),
A second college from this time was the International College of Oriental Medicine (ICOM), which had a particular focus on the doctrine of Stems and Branches. Many or the early influential practitioner teachers of CM in the UK (Giovanni Maciocia, Peter Deadman, Julian Scott, Jasmine Uddin, Felicity Moir., Geoff Wadlow) studied and/or taught there. All went on to study in China, and were influential through writing, teaching and political work, in unifying the profession.
Today, the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board syllabus has a TCM base but allows for colleges to incorporate a range of doctrines and styles.
Many Western medical health professionals study a biomedical form of acupuncture that uses acupuncture as a technique (Western medical acupuncture).
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