In view of the scarce resources available, it does need careful consideration to reach a balance between approved medicine and alternative treatments.

This particularly applies in circumstances where approved drugs are proven to extend life, but are denied on grounds of cost.

A recent BBC Radio 4 programme featured the case of a patient with bowel cancer which spread in a short time since it had first been diagnosed. Apparently the patient asked to be treated with the new drug Avastin, costing £18,500, but this was considered and refused by the Primary Care Trust which, allegedly, withheld the treatment in favour of ad hoc gestures.

It is those with chronic disease, whose stories are not media-friendly, that have, perhaps, most to gain from complementary therapies.

These help to give a feeling of well-being and acquire great value through a sense of calm and belief in the treatments; tender loving care is also very important.

I think Prince Charles is quite right when he says that we need more regulation, but should make complementary therapies, for instance osteopathy and acupuncture, available through the NHS, particularly to those patients who show signs of benefiting from these therapies. If there is a good rapport between doctors, consultants and their patients, they need a longer consultation to get to know their patients' needs.

It would seem that practitioners in alternative therapies are able to devote more time and can, therefore, get to know their patients better. I feel the quality of the rapport between doctors, consultants and their patients does affect the outcome of the patient's disease.

Personally, I have been exceptionally lucky, being a patient of the Priory Group practice and Doctors K Bill and S Gilleghan at the Fulford Park Surgery, also the brilliant consultant surgeon Ian Bradford, FRCS, who performed the operation on me for bowel cancer at York Hospital.

Elizabeth C Earle, William Plows Avenue, York.