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Complementary and alternative medicine
The Cochrane Collaboration defines complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a broad domain of healing resources that encompasses all health systems, modalities, and practices and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health systems of a particular society or culture in a given historical period.
An information pack for primary care groups and a leaflet for primary care clinicians were produced in June 2000, in collaboration between the Department of Health, Foundation for Integrated Medicine, NHS Alliance and National Association of Primary Care. They were not intended to provide definitive professional guidelines or to be a substitute for individual clinical judgement.
In February 2005, the Department published an analysis of responses to a consultation, held between March and June 2004, on proposals to regulate herbal medicine and acupuncture practitioners. The consultation was informed by the reports of the Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine Regulatory Working Groups, published in September 2003.
Research and statistics
NHS R&D Programme
There is increasing public interest in, and use of, complementary and alternative medicine - particularly among patients with cancer. In response to the House of Lords Select Committee's desire to foster high-quality research into the CAM genre, and surveys which indicate that on average a third of patients with cancer had used some form of CAM, the Department provided funding for research in CAM (£1.3 million for the first round of a research capacity building scheme, and £324,000 for three qualitative research projects on CAM in the care of patients with cancer). This will help develop the evidence base for CAM in healthcare.
Professional organisation of complementary and alternative medicine in the United Kingdom 2000
This report recounts progress made in professional organisation in this sector since the 1997 Report. It now represents probably the most comprehensive list of CAM organisations in the UK, with latest addresses and phone numbers. It also reports on a project to bring together in a new regulatory forum the professions involved in Reflexology.
Professional organisation of complementary and alternative medicine in the United Kingdom 1997
This document reports on a questionnaire-based survey commissioned by the DH, which sought to provide a snapshot of professional activity in complementary and alternative medicine in the UK. It further sought to throw light on approaches towards coordinating activity and encouraging responsible practice.
The House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology reported in November 2000 on its inquiry into questions of significance for public health policy raised by the increased use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in the UK and the developed world. The report made a number of recommendations on the provision of information about the use of, and regulation of CAM. The Government's response in March 2001 welcomed the Report, as helping to protect the interests of patients and other consumers. If taken seriously by both orthodox and complementary medicine, the Report could also bring significant benefits to medicine as a whole.
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