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Alternative Healthcare 2010: More consumers would use alternative healthcare if it were regulated…

Despite the fact that medical specialists, general practitioners (GPs), nurses and other health professionals sometimes practise alternative therapies themselves, or refer patients to alternative practitioners, there is still a great deal of caution regarding the safety and efficacy of these therapies amongst consumers. Research for Alternative Healthcare, a new Market Assessment from market intelligence provider Key Note, indicates that the majority of respondents to its survey would be more likely to consider using some alternative treatments if practitioners were regulated or if the products had to be officially passed as safe and effective.

Key Note's research uncovered that, in the case of acupuncture, 62.1% of respondents said they would be more inclined to consider having it if all practitioners were government regulated; the same proportion said that they would be more likely to use herbal or homeopathic remedies (or use them to a greater extent) if these were officially registered as being safe and effective for specific ailments.

Furthermore, a considerable 84.2% of respondents believed that as much care should be taken in using herbal or homeopathic remedies as with conventional medicines.

However, the survey also found that, despite the fact that 58.9% of respondents declared that they had not used or been treated using any of the selected eight alternative healthcare techniques in the past 12 months, in most cases there were still high levels of agreement shown with regard to belief in their effectiveness.

The highest level of agreement in this respect was achieved bychiropractic/osteopathy (with 69.7% of respondents agreeing that these techniques could be effective), followed to almost equal extents by acupuncture, aromatherapy, reflexology and herbal/homeopathic remedies (at 59.2%, 58%, 57.2% and 55%, respectively). The lowest agreement level regarding effectiveness was shown for the Alexander Technique - only 27.5% of respondents said that they believed in the benefits of this.

A low proportion of respondents to the survey felt that the medical profession supported, recommended or had enough knowledge about alternative healthcare. Moreover, although the NHS has for many years offered selected alternative therapies to patients (particularly homeopathy); the availability of these has declined due to the NHS questioning the 'evidence-based proof of efficacy'. In January 2008, it was reported that many NHS trusts had withdrawn or reduced funding for homeopathy during the previous 2 years.

A further and still ongoing limitation to sales growth is the continued lack of regulation regarding herbal medicine practitioners and herbal remedies. However, on a positive note, many herbal remedies (and some complementary therapies) are targeted at age-related conditions - and the UK's population has an increasingly older age profile. As a consequence, Key Note estimates that there will be a decline in the UK herbal remedies sector to 2011, after which sales will rise slowly. The sector is expected to be worth around £114m by 2014, having recovered from a low of £105m in 2011.

In the future, the issue of reduced support from the NHS will have an impact on business for homeopathic practitioners and on the retail market for remedies. This said, consumers may still be attracted by the increasing interest in the holistic treatment that is claimed to be offered by herbal medicine and homeopathy, as well as the wide range of products and personalised advice available through therapists. As such, a small decline is forecast in the market sector to 2011, followed by slight growth in 2012 and static sales in 2013 and 2014.

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