Complementary therapies on the NHS: current practice, future developments (Part I)

Three major reports have been published within the past year on the status, use and development of complementary medicine within the UK. The NHS Confederation has undertaken a survey of usage within NHS services in Leicestershire, the Foundation for Integrated Medicine has explored how such services might be improved, and the University of Exeter was commissioned by the Department of Health to survey complementary medicine organisations. In Europe, complementary medicine has been the focus of considerable discussion, little of it very positive. This paper examines what we now know about the use of complementary medicine within the NHS, and explores the notion of 'integrated medicine'. A second paper, to be published in August, will look at the status of complementary medicine in the UK and Europe, and important developments regarding the future of practitioner training.