Prince commissions alternative medicines report
Prince Charles has commissioned a report into how complimentary medicine could help the NHS save money.
The Prince of Wales asked a former chief economics adviser to Barclays Bank to see where money could be saved by avoiding traditional drug treatments.
Leaked draft conclusions in The Times suggest millions of pounds could be saved if one in 10 GPs offered homeopathy as an alternative to standard drugs.
It also suggests a total of £38 million could be saved by switching 10 per cent of patients with depression to a herb known as St John’s Wort.
And up to £3.5 billion could be saved by offering people with back pain treatment such as chiropractic care rather than drugs.
The report has stirred a debate about complimentary medicine and the NHS.
Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary and alternative medicine at the University of Exeter, told The Times that scientific evidence showed providing alternative therapies would mean a net cost.
The report was based on “poor science” he said, with the conclusions appearing to have been written before anything else.
The British Medical Association said complimentary therapies could be very useful for patients, but there needed to be far better regulation of the exiting practices – especially when GPs refer patients to alternative medicine providers.
And the Patients’ Association has said that while there should be controls on complimentary medicine many patients did find such treatments useful.
“Many types of complimentary therapy are already used on the NHS,” chairman Michael Summers told politics.co.uk. “Patients have told us that treatments, such as acupuncture can be very effective.”
The Prince has something of a reputation as an environmental crusader, growing organic food at his Highgrove Estate and warning of the “disastrous” consequences of genetically modified crops.
