A study carried out in a three partner medical centre in the UK was funded at a rate of £15 per 15 minute treatment by the Regional Health Authority. Patients were given six once-weekly treatments (discontinued after four treatments if no benefit was experienced). Of the 326 patients who filled in score cards, 65% showed improvements.
The Health Authority funding was intended to reduce hospital referrals and of 163 patients treated in a 5 month period, referral was avoided in 79 cases. This figure was determined by the practitioner (Charles Walker, Cavendish Medical Centre, 214 Park North Road, Birkenhead, L41 8BU) on the basis of his former routines. Most of the 79 cases (40) would have been physiotherapy referrals, with the others as follows: orthopaedic(14), rheumatology(10), pain clinic(6)psychiatry (4) neurology(2) and ENT, repiratory and oncology 1 each.
In another study (Sarah Watkins, Europa House, West Street, Leighton Buzzard, Beds (UK) LU7 7DD), the author treated a wide range of conditions by acupuncture after an initial training with Felix Mann followed by study at the Nanjing College of TCM. In this case the author incorporated acupuncture into the normal course of her consultations and there was no additional funding.
Of 197 patients who filled in a posted questionnaire, 855 reported improvement in their condition, and most dramatically the ratio of sceptics (50%) to enthusiasts (50%) before treatment changed to sceptics(6%) and enthusiasts (91%) after treatment.
In both studies, the acupuncture used involved minimal stimulation technique ie. Insertion, manipulation for 10 seconds to induce deqi, withdrawal, needling of the next point etc. this method was able to reduce the total treatment time significantly, making acupuncture more viable in a time-limited general practice.
Acupuncture in Medicine, Nov 1995 VOL XII No2, 67 –70.
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