The Pittilo report, published a year after the White Paper, recommended the statutory regulation of practitioners of acupuncture, herbal medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, and this was supported through consultation. However, only herbal medicine regulation is being taken forward and this was at the 11th hour, seemingly in response to the concerted public campaigning against the introduction of the EU Herbal Medicine Directive, which would restrict access to unlicensed herbal medicines. It is likely that the increased role of the EU in the area of health law and policy will lead to further regulation being imposed upon the UK. Indirectly, the EU may also have an impact in the wake of the new EU Patients Rights Directive. Enhanced patient mobility across EU member states has already led to concerns regarding standards of care across the EU as a whole. This may provide a driver to work towards greater alignment in standards of patient care across member states in the future. As the delivery of health care today is concerned not simply with fixing the ‘illness’ but also with health and well-being, with a dialogue of both patient choice and patient mobility CAM therapies may become increasingly attractive.