Annual Review 2004 - The Prince of Wales

Health
The Prince of Wales has long been involved with
a wide variety of healthcare organisations which
he helps with personal support, funding and
regular visits to hospitals and hospices.
At the heart of his approach is the concept of
integrated healthcare. This is a system where
patients, protected by a sound regulatory
environment and the support of the National
Health Service, have access not just to
conventional medical treatment but to a wide
range of complementary care and therapy, such
as acupuncture, homeopathy, massage and
herbal medicine.
To help put this theory into practice, and after
nearly 25 years of interest and involvement in
the field of holistic medicine, eight years ago His
Royal Highness set up The Prince of Wales’s
Foundation for Integrated Health (FIH). Its
main aim is to help provide safe, effective and
efficient forms of medical treatment to patients
and their families by supporting the development
and delivery of integrated healthcare, especially
by encouraging conventional and complementary
practitioners to work together.
The development of the FIH’s work comes at
a time when public interest in complementary
medicine is growing (surveys show that 75
per cent of people would like complementary
treatments to be available on the NHS), and the
Government is taking an active approach to the
issue. For example, the Government last year
published its consultation document on the
regulation of acupuncture and herbal medicines
in the UK.
The consultation document was a result of the
efforts of two working groups established by
the FIH and the Department of Health, and will
lead to proposals for regulation of these two
important areas being brought forward by the
Government this year.To emphasise his support
for integrated healthcare, The Prince last year
visited a leading integrated GP Practice in
Devon, where patients have access to a range of
complementary approaches, a clinic in Waltham
Forest offering massage and homeopathy
alongside conventional treatments, and an
acupuncture and Chinese herbal medical centre
at the Gateway Clinic in Lambeth.
Aside from his work with the FIH, The Prince
also spent time last year supporting healthcare
organisations of which he is President or Patron,
including Marie Curie, Macmillan Cancer Relief,
the Bristol Cancer Help Centre, Breakthrough
Breast Cancer and the Haven Trust. This year
these groups, along with others, will be taking
part in a major conference on cancer care being
organised by the FIH in London.
His Royal Highness also follows developments
in public health closely, and last year, in response
to a series of reports about the growing problem
of allergies in the UK, he wrote an article for
The Guardian newspaper. In it, The Prince called
for an urgent examination of the resources
available to deal with the allergies epidemic,
alongside consideration of the role for integrated
approaches in tackling it. The article attracted
considerable media interest and reaction from
within the industry, and in doing so helped
highlight the growing concern about the rise of
allergic illnesses.
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“As Patron, his unstinting support of the Bristol Approach to
cancer care has been invaluable, and his great advocacy of a
more integrated approach to healthcare has our full support.”
Christopher Head, Chief Executive of Bristol Cancer Help Centre