Acupuncture Regulatory Authority

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Acupuncture Regulatory Authority

The ARA (formerly the BAF) is made up of 15 of the UK's leading acupuncture organisations.

Its mission is to foster collaboration and consistency, creating a stronger and more cohesive acupuncture professional community. In line with the recommendations of the House of Lords' Complementary & Alternative Medicine report (2000) the British Acupuncture Federation is the first collaborative umbrella organisation of leading professional acupuncture associations within the UK.

01/11/2026

Renewal is much easier when your CPD evidence is already in one place. A simple folder system, set up once, saves an end-of-year hunt through emails, downloads and paper files for certificates.

Here's a set-up that works for most practitioners:

• One main folder called CPD, saved somewhere that's backed up (cloud storage is ideal)
• Inside it, one folder for each renewal year
• In each year folder: Certificates, Reflections and a CPD log

Give every file the same style of name, for example 2026-10_Provider_Topic, and everything sorts itself into date order.

Your log can be a basic spreadsheet with five columns: date, activity, provider, hours, and what you'll do differently in clinic as a result.

The five-minute habit: as soon as you finish a course, webinar or piece of reading, save the certificate, add a line to the log and jot down a couple of sentences of reflection. Done while it's fresh, it takes a few minutes. Done eleven months later, it can take a whole day.

Your member organisation can tell you exactly what CPD evidence they need to see at renewal.

29/10/2026

We're pleased to confirm one of our speakers for Acupuncture Healthcare Conference 2027: Jeff Shearer, is flying in from Evolve Acupuncture Training in Australia.
Jeff trains practitioners internationally in the Evolve Method, a distal acupuncture approach drawing on the work of Dr Richard Tan, Dr Wei Chih Young and Dr Slate Burris.
Jeff is also running a two-day course on 11th and 12th March in London, at a different venue to the conference, and you can book in the usual place that you book our CPD courses if you're interested. Saturday 13th March 2027, UCL London.
Book your conference place: https://acupuncturehealthcareconference.co.uk

26/10/2026

80+ legal templates, one login

Every practitioner registered with ARA through one of our member organisations has access to the ARA members area. Plenty of registrants haven't had a proper look around it yet.

Inside you'll find more than 80 legal templates, including terms documents and GDPR paperwork such as privacy notices and website cookie guidance. There are also safety advice documents, patient advisories and policy documents, all ready to adapt for your own clinic.

It's also where you'll find full details of our partner benefits, and where you can add your clinic to the Acupuncture Near Me map so local patients can find you.

Already registered? Log in here:
https://acupunctureregulatoryauthority.org.uk/docs/welcome-to-ara-members-area/

Not registered yet? Find out how to join through a member organisation:
https://acupunctureregulatoryauthority.org.uk/how-to-join/

22/10/2026

Acupuncture Healthcare Conference 2027 isn't just a day of CPD, it's a room full of people who understand the work the way you do.

The same questions, the same challenging cases, the same reasons you got into this profession in the first place.

Swap ideas over coffee, catch up with familiar faces, and leave with a few new ones too. That's what real connections look like. Saturday 13th March 2027, UCL London.

https://acupuncturehealthcareconference.co.uk

20/10/2026

5 Minute Clinic: Writing a cancellation policy that protects your diary

A late cancellation leaves you with an empty hour you can't fill and a fee you won't see. Most practitioners have a policy of some kind. Fewer make sure the patient has read it before they book.

The simplest fix is one clear line in your booking confirmation. For example:

"Please give at least 24 hours' notice to cancel or rearrange. Appointments cancelled with less notice, or missed, will be charged at [50% / the full fee]."

A few things that help it work:

• Choose a notice period that suits your diary. 24 hours is common, and 48 hours gives you a better chance of refilling the slot.
• Keep the charge proportionate to what you lose. Under consumer law, cancellation terms need to be fair and made clear before the booking is made.
• Put the same line in your reminder message, so it's the second time they've seen it.
• Decide in advance how you'll handle genuine emergencies, and apply that consistently.
• Mention it to new patients when they book, not after the first missed appointment.

Five minutes spent on this now saves a lot of awkward conversations later.

15/10/2026

Before we look ahead to 2027, a quick look back. Last year's conference brought together practitioners from across the UK for a day of learning, discussion and connection.
We got some amazing reviews, attendees mentioned that we had great speakers, useful supplier stands, and they had a lovely lunch too!

https://acupuncturehealthcareconference.co.uk

12/10/2026

Every ARA registrant gets a free listing on Acupuncture Near Me, our online directory for patients looking for a practitioner in their area.

Patients can search by speciality or by postcode and city, and your clinic shows up as a pin on the map. It's often the first place someone checks when they want to know who's qualified and registered near them.

Your listing only works if the details are right. If you've moved clinic, changed your phone number or added a new treatment, a patient searching today could end up at an old address or ringing a number that no longer answers. Most won't try twice, they'll just go to the next pin on the map.

It takes a few minutes to check your listing, and it's worth doing whenever anything changes in your practice.

Find your listing at https://acupunctureregulatoryauthority.org.uk

08/10/2026

Why come to The Acupuncture and Healthcare Conference 2027? A full day counts toward your CPD hours, with sessions built around real clinical practice, not just theory, plus the chance to reconnect with colleagues across the profession.

Book your place: acupuncturehealthcareconference.co.uk

05/10/2026

Who's checking?

If you're registered with the ARA, you might wonder who makes the decisions behind the register. Here's how the board is set up.

The main board
Each member organisation has one representative on the main board, so every organisation has a voice when decisions are made.

Working groups
Some subjects need more specialist time than the main board can give them. For those, the board forms working groups, such as the PR and Marketing Board and the Education Board. Each group brings together members of the board and other experts in that area. They do the detailed work, then report back to the main board with progress or anything that needs a decision.

Oversight
The CEO oversees all of the boards, keeping the work of each group joined up.

Find out more about how the ARA works at https://acupunctureregulatoryauthority.org.uk

01/10/2026

Save the date! The Acupuncture and Healthcare Conference 2027 is confirmed for 13th March at UCL London, and bookings are just opening. A full day of CPD, expert speakers and time with the acupuncture community. Get it in the diary.

https://acupuncturehealthcareconference.co.uk

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+448435070123

Website

https://acupunctureregulatoryauthority.org.uk/, https://conference.acupunctureregulatoryauthority.org.uk/

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