Mr
Dobson said he took a pragmatic view towards treatment. He believed that
"what works is what counts and what counts is what works. With so many
threats to our health we cannot afford to ignore anything that works and
is safe".
He said it was clear that some people did not respond to even the most
modern orthodox treatment, and that some of these people were being helped
by complementary and alternative medicine.
Mr Dobson also sought to assuage the fears of some fundholding GPs who
had been buying in complementary therapies. They believed that their
freedom to continue to purchase complementary therapies would be lost when
the new Primary Care Groups came into operation. But the health secretary
has made clear that the new groups will be able to continue providing
complementary medicine and even to expand provision as long as these
services are clinically effective, cost effective and safe.
The government's priorities are shared by GPs, according to a survey by
the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital (RLHH)1. The
hospital sent out a questionnaire to GPs in 20 health authorities asking
them to indicate what factors influenced their attitudes towards the value
or effectiveness of complementary medicine. Twelve factors were listed,
and the GPs asked to rate each on a four-point scale from not important to
very important.
The categories were:
- randomised clinical trials (RCTs)
- safety
- economic evaluation
- audit outcome data
- availability of literature
- expert opinion
- patient satisfaction
- theoretical understanding
- laboratory research
- colleagues' views
- uncontrolled outcomes
- patient demand.
The three most often cited areas were:
And in each of these
priority areas, there is growing evidence of the advantages and
effectiveness of homeopathy.
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