Demand for NHS acupuncture treatments 'rising'

The British Acupuncture Council has said it would be good if the alternative therapy was available on the NHS.

Mike O'Farrell, chief executive at the group, said that acupuncture is widely used in some sectors, but the NHS is still lacking guidelines.

"Increasingly there is demand from the public for them to be able to gain access to it," he said.

"I think it would be very good if this was able to happen at some stage in the near future, but it is really up to the Department of Health (DoH) and others to work through this together because it is quite a big step."

Earlier this month a consultation was launched by the DoH to regulate the alternative medicines sector, including acupuncture, Chinese medicine and herbal treatments.

The premise of acupuncture is that the insertion of small needles into the body's channels of energy can help stimulate a positive healing response.

For some it is used as a form of pain relief although others use it to treat a variety of illnesses.

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