Attitudes to evidence on complementary medicine: the perspective of British healthcare purchasers.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the attitude of those who make decisions on the allocation of health-care resources (health-care purchasers/commissioners) towards the relative importance of different types of evidence on complementary medicine.


METHODS
Questionnaire study of GPs and Directors of Public Health.


METHODS
General practices in the UK and Directors of Public Health of Health Authorities in the Greater London region.


METHODS
500 randomly selected general practices in 10 randomly selected UK regions, 100 randomly selected general practices who had previously referred to the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital and all 28 directors of public health of health authorities in the Greater London region.


METHODS
Importance of the following on a four point scale ranging from 0 (not important) to 3 (very important): randomized clinical trials, audit outcome data from homoeopathic hospitals, uncontrolled outcome studies, patient satisfaction, patient demand, economic evaluation, colleagues' views, expert opinion, theoretical understanding, laboratory research, safety and availability of literature.


RESULTS
462 general practitioners and 19 Directors of Health Authorities responded. Safety data and randomised clinical trials were considered very important, colleagues' views and patient demand as slightly important, uncontrolled outcome studies as not important. The remaining aspects were considered to be important. Differences between the categories of respondents were small.


CONCLUSIONS
While randomized clinical trials remain very important, more emphasis should be placed on further substantiating the safety and value for money of complementary medicine in 'real world' clinical settings.
van Haselen
R
R
Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital, UK.
Fisher
P
P
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005194:Family Practice / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D017048:Health Care Costs; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006286:Health Planning Councils / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011634:Public Health / Q000191:economics*; D006113:United Kingdom