New GP network will integrate conventional and complementary medicine

More complementary medicine should be available on the NHS, Peter Hain, the secretary of state for Wales and Northern Ireland, told a conference last week.

Mr Hain was speaking at the launch of GP Associates, a group of GPs interested in bringing together conventional and complementary medicine. The group is being formed by the Prince of Wales's Foundation for Integrated Health.

Mr Hain said that he regularly used complementary medicine and had become a “true convert” after his son's eczema had been improved by homoeopathy.

He criticised the medical profession for its reluctance to embrace such treatments. He said, “Some in the conventional medical establishment are behaving very conservatively, as defenders of the existing paradigm have always done throughout the history of science until a new way of thinking has proven its worth.”

However, he acknowledged research into the effectiveness of complementary medicine was needed to win over sceptics. He said, “'I would certainly never advocate the squandering of public money on so called treatments that have no proven benefits and which take money away from existing therapies that are shown to work.”

The Prince of Wales also spoke to the group of around 120 GPs who had met to launch the GP Associates, saying “how pleased and proud I am that so many eminent and sensible 'quacks' are joining with my foundation.”

He said that integrated health care offered the “best of both worlds” and that GPs were best placed to help patients make the choice.

He said, “One crucial reason for the inclusion of integrated healthcare into general practice is to tackle the rise in long term and chronic conditions.”

In March the Department of Health gave the foundation £0.9m ($1.6m; £1.3m) to work on the regulation of complementary treatments.

The formation of GP Associates comes shortly after the publication of the Smallwood report, commissioned by the Prince of Wales, which claimed that greater use of some complementary treatments could result in major savings in healthcare costs (BMJ 2005;331:795, 8 Oct; 2005;331:856, 15 Oct).

The aim of GP Associates is to create a supportive network of like minded GPs who develop ideas and examples of integrated health and care in practice.

At the same meeting, Niall Dickson, chairman of the UK health research charity the King's Fund, announced that the fund was planning to spend £1m over the next four years in the area of integrated health. Most of the money will be spent on research into cost effectiveness in general practice.