Prince Charles and the NHS disagree on CAM

The Prince of Wales has called for more CAM treatments to be available on the NHS to tackle what he says is a UK ‘allergy explosion’. The prince, who has long been a supporter of CAM, criticised the fact that 90% of CAM treatments are currently only available to those who can afford to pay for them although surveys show that 75% of people want CAM treatments on the NHS. According to the Prince, correcting this imbalance need not mean huge additional expenditure.¹ NHS managers dismissed the Prince’s call for more complementary medicines to be made freely available on the NHS. Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, the umbrella body for managers, said the NHS could use only those medicines that had been proven effective, ruling out the majority of complementary therapies.²

1. Guardian, 28 February 2004.
2. Independent, 29 February 2004.