Is Charles right about alternative medicine? It depends who you ask...

PRINCE Charles is a fan. His mum acknowledges the benefits too. Even his dad has been known to dabble.

The Royal Family has used homeopathic remedies for years, employing doctors trained in alternative techniques such as acupuncture and osteopathy.

The Prince of Wales set up his own Foundation for Integrated Health eight years ago to promote a system where patients have access to complementary care alongside conventional medical treatment, protected by a sound regulatory environment and with the support of the NHS.

And, nine months ago, he commissioned a report into the benefits of providing such a system across the country.

The results were revealed yesterday to mixed reviews.

The key findings of the report, which was led by Christopher Smallwood, a former chief economic advisor to Barclays Bank, were that complementary therapies should be more widely available on the NHS; that they could be particularly beneficial to patients suffering from back pain, stress and depression; and that they could lead to widespread benefits to the economy.

The report comes at a time when public interest in complementary medicine is growing.

Surveys show that 75 per cent of people would like complementary treatments to be available on the NHS; about half of GPs provide access to treatments; the alternative treatment market is doubling in size every four years; there are now more than 140 professional bodies offering alternative remedies; and Britons currently spend £130 million a year on complementary treatments (it is estimated that this will top £200 million by 2009).

But will the report make any difference?

The findings were welcomed by Mike Proctor, chief operating officer at York Hospital, who said they would be first in the queue if the Government offered more funding for complementary therapies. But he stressed that this was a big 'if'.

"We already offer a whole range of treatments, mainly in our cancer care centre," he said. "Some of it is funded by charitable donations, but we do foot the bill for some of it ourselves.

"If the Government decided to offer more funding, we'd be first in line. But I think it would be a very long line for very little money."

He said the hospital was committed to providing patients with treatments that they find beneficial, even if they were not backed by scientific evidence.

"Personally, I think if the patient believes it is working and they feel better, then that is good enough," said Mr Proctor.

York Against Cancer funds £10,000 of complementary therapy at York Hospital every year including aromatherapy, reflexology, reiki, acupuncture, meditation and daoyin tao (a form of Chinese massage).

"We would be happy to see a move towards the NHS providing therapies - it would mean we could spend our money on something else," said Lesley McNeil, manager of the York charity.

"None of these treatments are cures, but they do provide people with that all-important feelgood factor."

Shayna Holloway, an administrator at York St John College, knows from firsthand experience the value of this 'feelgood factor'.

She was diagnosed with clinical depression and, unhappy at the prospect of indefinite medication, decided to seek an alternate route.

"Medical professionals told me this was something I would suffer from for the rest of my life, but I have not had any problems for three years," she said. "Psychotherapy, complementary therapies and spiritual work have turned my life around."

Shayna is now a practitioner herself, offering Swedish body massage, Indian head massage, reiki and huna (Hawaiian psychological healing).

"I'd like to say that GPs are recommending complementary therapies to their patients but I fear that's not the case," she said. "They are far too restricted by targets and the need to make money from prescriptions."

Unfortunately, money is a problem when it comes to offering alternative treatments on the NHS. The problem being that there simply is not enough.

"There's not enough money in the pot to match people's expectations," said Dr David Geddes, a Clifton GP and medical director of Selby and York Primary Care Trust. "If you want to fund complementary therapies, the money has to come from somewhere else."

In common with an increasing number of GPs, he provides acupuncture for his patients. But he is less inclined to recommend treatments with a weaker evidence base.

"I think we probably have the balance slightly wrong at the moment," he said, "automatically opting for a traditional method when an alternative is available. But, to be honest, I can't see the balance changing any time soon."

Not everyone has welcomed the reports findings. Some have even gone so far as to brand them as 'bad science'.

Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary therapy at the University of Exeter, was interviewed for the report but asked for his contribution to be withdrawn, branding it "not really up to scratch".

He told Radio 4's Today programme: "I am in favour of using complementary medicine but it needs to be backed up by good science and that wasn't good science.

"It looked to me as though the conclusions were written before the data were put in."

He concluded that the report didn't prove anything either way, which echoes the findings of a comprehensive review of more than 200 clinical trials into the effectiveness of complementary therapies which was carried out in York in 2002.

A team from York University's influential Centre for NHS Reviews and Dissemination concluded that many of the trials were too small scale and poorly conducted to provide firm evidence.

"There is insufficient good quality evidence to recommend homeopathy as a treatment for any specific condition," said Paul Wilson, one of the authors of the report, at the time. "But we can't say that is doesn't work either."

Shayna Holloway believes people like her are all the proof that is needed.

"Traditional medicine is not the answer for everyone," she said. "All I know is that I wouldn't be happy and healthy now without complementary therapies."

Some of the most popular complementary therapies

Acupuncture

Derived from traditional Chinese healing, acupuncture uses needles to stimulate the function of the organs (meridians), through 500 acupuncture points on the skin. It is most often used for headaches, migraines, anxiety, arthritis, asthma, backache, circulatory problems, depression, high blood pressure, infertility, menstrual problems, sciatica, skin conditions and peptic ulcers.

Aromatherapy

Uses plant oils (known as essential oils) to improve emotional and physical problems. They are said to have one or more of the following properties: sedative, calming, stimulating, anti-depressant, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, antiseptic, analgesic (pain relief) and decongestant.

Chiropractic

Chiropractors use manual techniques to diagnose, treat and prevent mechanical disorders of the spine, joints and muscles. Treatment consists of physical manipulation known as adjustments, which are thought to re-align the spine and other skeletal structures.

Herbal medicine

This is closest to modern orthodox medicine as many traditional drugs such as aspirin are derived from plants. There are three types of herbal therapies commonly used in the UK: Western, Chinese and ayurvedic (from India), which are used to treat migraine, arthritis, respiratory, circulatory and digestive disorders, skin conditions, mild depression, insomnia, cystitis, PMS and menopausal problems.

Homeopathy

Based on the 'law of similars'; the theory that the symptoms of a condition are signs that the body is trying to cure itself. Tiny, highly diluted amounts of substances creating the same or similar symptoms of the condition are administered to encourage the body's self-healing efforts.

Massage therapy

Stroking and kneading of the body's soft tissue to promote a feeling of relaxation and stimulate circulation. There are a number of different massage techniques including: classical/Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, sports massage, manual lymph drainage, Hellerwork and rolfing (extreme deep tissue massage), Eastern massage (including shiatsu and acupressure), reiki (Japanese energy healing), marma massage (part of ayurvedic therapy) and Thai massage (combination of Chinese and Ayurvedic massage).

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapists encourage their patients to achieve an extreme state of relaxation. Some NHS psychotherapists, psychologists and dentists perform hypnotherapy. It is most commonly used to overcome phobias, to break habits and to relieve conditions with stress-related causes such as eczema and panic attacks.

Osteopathy

A technique that diagnoses and treats problems with bones and muscles through manual manipulation of the muscles, bones, joints, ligaments and tendons. It is most commonly used to diagnose and treat conditions such as backache, neck pain, joint pain and arthritis, sciatica, sports injuries and repetitive strain injury (RSI), headaches, insomnia, depression, menstrual pain, digestive disorders and asthma.

Updated: 11:19 Friday, October 07, 2005