The NHS has been struggling to cope with demand for years, and the recent Covid 19 pandemic has pushed it to its limit. Sadly, many frontline workers have been left traumatised, exhausted and wanting to leave.
At the same time, superbugs are predicted to become the number one cause of death by 2050. We can no longer rely on antibiotics, vaccines and other drugs alone to deal with this, and as a result we need to drastically reinvent the way we do healthcare. The combination of a failing NHS and the likelihood of further pandemics in the coming decades is a deadly one. This is why I would urge policy makers to consider integrating alternative treatments into the NHS.
Around 2/3 of the NHS budget is spent on treating chronic conditions. Type 2 Diabetes alone costs the NHS £1m an hour to treat, and yet it’s a preventable and reversible condition. Qualified alternative practitioners such as Medical Herbalists, Naturopathic Nutritionists, Hypnotherapists, Osteopaths and Acupuncturists have exactly the right skills to treat these conditions, and are perfectly placed to do so. Virtually all of these practitioners have no choice but to work for themselves, and many lack the business skills needed to sustain their practice. Offering these practitioners an opportunity to work within the NHS benefits everyone. Patients have easier access to specialised treatments which are most likely to help them, Doctors spend less time with patients they can’t help, and practitioners have a regular income.
In Asia this has always been common practice. In China, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and modern medicine work side by side. It’s considered negligent to prescribe chemotherapy without herbs to support, and when Covid patients were treated with herbal medicine the mortality rate dropped from 2% to 0.6%. In the UK Medical Herbalists have successfully treated a number of patients with both Covid and Long Covid over the past year, undoubtedly saving NHS resource in the process. We specialise in treating chronic conditions which accounts for a significant amount of NHS spend. These include illnesses like Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid which are not easily treatable within the NHS.
In the mid 1990’s a study by the Somerset Trust For Integrated Healthcare looked at how Osteopathy, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, Massage Therapy and Acupuncture might help patients with chronic conditions. It found that 85% of patients felt better for having used these therapies, and most did not need referral into secondary care. The cost was no more than that of mainstream care, and patients paid a contribution themselves. Other projects around the country have had similar results, and my personal experience both as a patient and a practitioner supports this.
Other examples of where alternative medicine could support patients include:
– Hypnotherapy being used for pain management, minor mental health problems and addictions.
– Herbal medicine in the treatment of both minor acute conditions such as colds and flu, drug resistant infections, and chronic illnesses.
– Naturopathic Nutritionists to educate, motivate and support people with Type 2 Diabetes in healthy eating. Special diets can be implemented in early stage Dementia too.
– Personal trainers, fitness and dance instructors to help with weight management and mental health through exercise.
– Osteopathy and acupuncture in injury rehabilitation.
Supportive and preventative measures such as healthy eating classes, resilience training, and support groups would also have an important role to play. This would enable larger groups of the population to benefit at the same time.
Taking this pressure off the NHS would free up more resource for areas its best place to work with, such as surgery, emergency medicine, and treatment of more advanced pathologies. Likewise there would be more capacity for dealing with future pandemics. If enough practitioners were available on a daily basis within primary care settings, patients would have fast and easy access to the specialist care they need.
Integrating alternative treatments into the NHS would:
– Drastically reduce pressure on staff and improve their working conditions.
– Drastically reduce the drugs bill.
– Pass more responsibility to each individual for their own health outcomes.
– Offer new job opportunities for qualified alternative practitioners or Doctors/Nurses wanting to leave their profession.
– Improve accessibility of alternative treatments for those who’d like to use them.
– Offer an alternative to those who can’t use mainstream treatments, eg, women who need HRT but can’t take it for safety reasons.
This is how I would like to see the NHS working over the coming decades, and if herbal medicine could be integrated it would provide further opportunities for farmers and herbal medicine manufacturers as well.
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