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- Removing Toxins The Natural Way
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- Gentle Touch Produces Miracles
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- How are You?
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- Introduction to Massage Essentials for Health
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- The different between NHS and CAM meaning of health
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- Health & Nutrition
- The different between NHS and CAM meaning of health
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- Massage
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- Introduction to Massage Essentials for Health
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Our Health, Our CAM, Our Say NHS Modernisation and the Integration of CAM
04/05/2008 - By Sylvia Baker The PGICH (formerly the Parliamentary Group for Alternative & Complementary Medicine) was set up to facilitate among politicians the exchange of information on integrated and complementary healthcare, to stimulate well-informed debate,
and to contribute towards the development of knowledge and policies on the subject. Regular meetings and presentations are held in the House of Commons throughout the year on topical issues.
Although members of PGICH, it is sometime now since the Aromatherapy Trade Council (ATC) was represented at a meeting. It was therefore heartening to see Committee Room 8 at the House of Commons packed for this event, one of the best ever. It focused on the recent NHS Health Reform and modernisation agenda and the new possibilities for the practice-based commissioning of CAM within the NHS. It featured excellent presentations from those directly involved in this provision, followed by an informed debate which was so stimulating and relevant that the chairman of the group, David Tredinnick MP, announced that the matter would be taken further within parliament and at a future meeting of the group. In July 2006 the Department of Health published two documents, Health Reform in England: Update and commissioning framework and A Stronger Local Voice, which sets out the government's plans for the future arrangements to support public involvement in health and social care, see: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/
pdvn/lds06/text/60713-wms0155.htm.
They stated that the new commissioning framework 'will act as a manual for new Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to achieve excellence in the way they secure healthcare for their local people. Commissioning is the means by which we secure the best possible healthcare and outcomes, including reduced health inequalities, within the money made available by the taxpayer.'
The increased demand for CAM and a growing body of evidence demonstrating its role in the treatment of chronic health conditions - the alleviation of symptoms and improvements to quality of life - fits the preventative healthcare agenda being advocated by the Department of Health.
However, current NHS restructuring and the reconfiguring of PCTs require that all healthcare services are evaluated and rationalised with a key aim of reaching financial balance. Within this context some CAM services are thriving or being explored and commissioned by progressive PCTs, whilst other well-established and evaluated services are either facing reductions, or being cut altogether. Spectacular results were demonstrated at the meeting for homeopathy, acupuncture and chiropractic care within the NHS but, at the same time, we heard of a well-organised and well-funded campaign - backed up by recent press releases - attacking homeopathy and its provision on the NHS.
It was the view of many at the meeting that a patient-led NHS was a joke. It also seems that 90% of NHS resources are not being spent as wisely as they could. In addition, there is a massive gap in the GP's understanding of the hard evidence that is available to demonstrate the efficacy of CAM treatments, especially in relation to how this can reduce:
the need for medication
the time GPs spend with their patients, with some no longer requiring secondary care
the claims for incapacity benefit, resulting from improvements in mental and musculoskeletal conditions.
It was generally agreed that GPs must be better informed and that patients need to put forward their views for the provision of CAM to their GPs locally.
Since the meeting, chairman of the group David Tredinnick MP has followed up on his resolve to raise in parliament the cuts in CAM and has spoken on complementary health in the Queen's Speech debate on 16 November. He asked the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt, if she was aware that cuts have been made in some NHS-provided services since the changes to Primary Care Trusts, for example in acupuncture and homeopathy. Did she recognise that her department, the Department of Health, has provided no framework for delivery, nor any guidance of any kind? Would she be kind enough to allow him to come to her with a small delegation to discuss these issues? Patricia Hewitt responded that she would of course ensure that the honourable gentleman and his colleagues are seen by her or by one of her ministerial colleagues. She went on to say that this area has more funding than ever before, and that the local NHS, in consultation with local people, needs to decide how best to spend that money. Her department has asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - as it considers treatments for a different range of conditions - to take into account the contribution that acupuncture, homeopathy and other complementary therapies can make. Her response is available at: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2006-11-16a.145.3
© Sylvia Baker, Aromatherapy Trade Council, Dept TT, PO Box 387, Ipswich IP2 9AN
Website: www.a-t-c.org.uk
Tel/Fax: 01473 603630