Audit demanded of alternative medicine referrals

Following concerns raised by doctors over the rise in the use of 'unproven and disproved' treatments on the NHS, MPs have demanded an urgent audit of public funding of alternative medicine.

Phil Willis, chairman of the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, said the department had a duty to collect accurate information on the extent of NHS support for alternative therapies, The Times reported.

This follows the Department of Health admission that it had no idea how much of taxpayers’ money was being spent on non-conventional therapies.

‘It does not matter whether you support alternative medicine or you are a sceptic. The full figures need to be made public,’ Willis said.

It is up to the discretion of individual clinicians and trusts to decide whether they refer a patient on to alternative or complimentary therapists.