Danmark aflagde rapport foran kiropraktorverdenen

[NB: det talte ord gælder]

Dear everybody,

It’s no secret that the past two years in Denmark have been eventful and in periods almost exhilarating. In a good way.

Just two weeks ago we reached a 1000 members of the Danish Chiropractors’ Association. For me that’s incredible. Just 5 years ago we had only 800 members, so that’s a 25% raise in just 5 years.

The rapidly increasing number of chiropractors in Denmark meets, but doesn’t solve one of our main challenges: the lack of chiropractors.

This means that all recent graduates are all in work – which again means that chiropractors outside of the larger cities find it very hard to attract employees.

All this means that chiropractic in Denmark does not meet its full potential.

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As of January first 2018 the Danish Chiropractors’ Association agreed on a five-year target programme aiming at, among other things, a national strategy within the muscles and joints area.

This task remains an important goal for us in the coming years, but also points into an ongoing challenge: political influence.

As I speak the Danish healthcare system is currently being reformed and this will mean new challenges for our profession. However, it's in the early days and not yet clear how the reform will affect the Danish chiropractors. But: we were happy to see that both we and the MSK-patients are are mentioned in the first proposal.

Three weeks ago I met up with the Danish Secretary of Health. Her name is Ellen Trane Nørby, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised as to how much she and the Ministry of Health are interested in listening to us and the ideas we have for our place in the Danish Healthcare System.

In 2018 the government presented a bill with the intention of making the use of needles/acupuncture in the chest region exclusively doctor-reserved.

The DCA argued that the Danish chiropractors already possessed similar qualifications as medical doctors in this area, and consequently the bill was changed, which means that also chiropractors are allowed to use acupuncture in the chest region.

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Within the last couple of years the Danish accreditation/quality programme for healthcare providers has conducted surveys among 50 % of all Danish chiropractic clinics, and all clinics have in all essentials complied with the requirements and have obtained the status “accredited”.

Surveys among the remaining 50 % will be carried through during 2019 and 2020. This in my opinion is hard work, but is very important for us to show the rest of the Health Care system, that we are serious healthcare professionals.

Continuing professional education is also compulsory for all chiropractors in Denmark practicing under the collective agreement of 2017 with Danish Regions.

Statistics from 2018 show that we are well on our way to achieving the goals in relation to the objective of the agreement - especially because of the academic congress which is held biennially, and where approx. 50 % of the total number of members participate in a three days’ concentrated programme offering a variety of relevant educational training.

Last year, by the way, our congress yet again broke attendance records – more than 600 people attended – and was opened by the director of the Danish Health Authority Søren Brostrøm.

Søren – one of the most powerful people in the Danish healthcare system – emphasized our importance in the system and said – and I quote: "You can have a much greater role in a changed task solution in the healthcare system, among other things to solve the major challenges with muscle and joint disorders."

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Finally: I just want to mention how our focus on research and evidence now seems to be paying dividends.

1 year ago The Lancet released its back-issue written – among others – by professor Jan Hartvigsen who remains an important figure in the research community. We are happy – and very lucky – to have Jan in Denmark, but it’s not all luck. It’s also a matter of hard work.

Last year yet another professor – Alice Kongsted – was appointed professor at the University of Southern Denmark, partly sponsored by the Danish Chiropractors Foundation, and right now we are currently working hard to go even further.

So in short: I remain very optimistic about the future of chiropractic in Denmark.