Evaluating complementary therapy on the National HealthService: a critique of reports from three pilot projects

Abstract: Complementary medicine has always been available in a limited form to National Health Service patients. Referral to several NHS homoeopathic hospitals has been possible since the Formation of the NHS. Certain forms of treatment are also available from doctors, nurses and physiotherapists who use complementary therapy techniques as part of their everyday practice.NHS referral to specialist complementary therapy units and to so-called 'independent complementary therapists' has recently been piloted on a trial basis by a number of health authorities. This article is a review of the reports produced by three of these programmes: the Liverpool Centre for Health, the Complementary Therapy Centre of Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust and West Yorkshire Health Authority's introduction of independent complementary therapists in Huddersfield and Dewsbury. It will introduce the issues surrounding quality in health programme evaluation methods and then present a brief overview of the projects, their evaluation methods and recommendations. The projects vary considerably in their methodological quality.It is impossible here to do justice to the considerable amount of work and goodwill that has gone into establishing and assessing these innovative schemes. For further details and a fuller understanding of the complexities involved, readers are directed to the original reports.

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