Should CAM be funded by the NHS?

or

Do you really want your tax money to be used for fashionable quackery?SIM

SALA...

...Yin Yang

Abracadabra.....

Reasons for using CAM

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BBC survey of 1204British adults

Moreover:Mostly rich people use CAM.

Fashion or real medical relief?

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30

40

50

60

70

80

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BBCsurvey of1204Britishadults

• Only 25% experienced real relief of injury or condition.

• Only 18% of the replies were related to NHS (not accessible) or GPs (referral)

• Most (96%) answers related to unscientific believes and general fashion trends.

The NHS cannot fund fashion in public health care!

Problems of funding CAM

builds dependencies,psychological

addictionsExpensive:

£2,700,000,000 per year

not well-researched

time consuming1:6

Lack of training

Lack of standardisation -

quacks

Lack of rational

datafor public

Lack of safety standards

no single definition of

CAM

Alan Milburn, Health Secretary

NHS Priorities in the 2000 Reform Plan

• NHS is a 1940s system operating in the 21st century and needs to be reformed in terms of – standard, de-centralisation and autonomy of local health

services, empowering patients, reducing waiting periods in emergency departments

– The current budget will achieve by 2005: GP appointment in 48 hours, cancer screening programmes and available cancer drugs, free nursing care in nursing homes, diet improvement for children in schools (1 fruit a day), mental health teams, ONLY 3 months waiting periods for outpatients and 6 months for inpatients. (Currently 172 days for open heart surgery!!)

How would NHS services look like if

50,000 CAM practitioners, 5 million CAM patients, and

10,000 statutory registered health professionals who practise some

form of CAM would be covered by the NHS???

£2,700,000,000 per year for CAM