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Letter
Use of acupuncture in the emergency department I read the paper on acupuncture and standard emergency department (ED) care for pain and/or nausea and its impact on emergency care delivery by Zhang et al1 with interest. I am delighted to see that acupuncture in the ED is relatively safe and acceptable for patients with pain and/or nausea. Unfortunately, in the UK there has been very little change in the use of acupuncture in the ED since my letter on the use of acupuncture for whiplash injury back in 2011.2 In fact, the likelihood of this being implemented in the ED is extremely unlikely as a recent report has shown that the NHS is spending more annually3 and, in view of the recent economic crisis, the Government wants it to make up to £20 billion worth of efficiency savings by the year 2015.4 Most NHS trusts have now cut funding on the use of acupuncture completely, including in the setting of chronic pain. In my opinion the future of acupuncture within the NHS is poor. I have recently tried to set up acupuncture services for children with chronic pain at a tertiary paediatric hospital and for adults with chronic pain at a university hospital, but both failed despite the enthusiastic support of the pain consultants. The main resistance was the lack of
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acupuncturists within the NHS and the long process in setting up a clearly useful service to the population. I thank the authors for conducting their study as it shows that acupuncture, in combination with usual medical care, has a role to play in the emergency setting. Jason Lie
Correspondence to Dr Jason Lie, North Western Deanery, Manchester, UK; [email protected]
Competing interests None. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
To cite Lie J. Acupunct Med 2014;32:358. Received 21 June 2014 Accepted 27 June 2014 Published Online First 7 July 2014 Acupunct Med 2014;32:358. doi:10.1136/acupmed-2014-010620
REFERENCES 1 Zhang AL, Parker SJ, Smit DV, et al. Acupuncture and standard emergency department care for pain and/or nausea and its impact on emergency care delivery: a feasibility study. Acupunct Med 2014;32:250–6. 2 Lie J. Letter on whiplash injury. Acupunct Med 2011;29:73–4. 3 Appleby J, Crawford R, Emmerson C. How cold will it be? Prospects for NHS funding: 2011–17. London: The King’s Fund, 2009. 4 National Health Service. Making the NHS more efficient and less bureaucratic. Department of Health and the Rt Hon Earl Howe. London: National Health Service, 2013.
Acupunct Med August 2014 Vol 32 No 4
Downloaded from http://aim.bmj.com/ on April 17, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Use of acupuncture in the emergency department Jason Lie Acupunct Med 2014 32: 358 originally published online July 7, 2014
doi: 10.1136/acupmed-2014-010620 Updated information and services can be found at: http://aim.bmj.com/content/32/4/358
These include:
References Email alerting service
This article cites 2 articles, 2 of which you can access for free at: http://aim.bmj.com/content/32/4/358#BIBL Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
Letter
Use of acupuncture in the emergency department I read the paper on acupuncture and standard emergency department (ED) care for pain and/or nausea and its impact on emergency care delivery by Zhang et al1 with interest. I am delighted to see that acupuncture in the ED is relatively safe and acceptable for patients with pain and/or nausea. Unfortunately, in the UK there has been very little change in the use of acupuncture in the ED since my letter on the use of acupuncture for whiplash injury back in 2011.2 In fact, the likelihood of this being implemented in the ED is extremely unlikely as a recent report has shown that the NHS is spending more annually3 and, in view of the recent economic crisis, the Government wants it to make up to £20 billion worth of efficiency savings by the year 2015.4 Most NHS trusts have now cut funding on the use of acupuncture completely, including in the setting of chronic pain. In my opinion the future of acupuncture within the NHS is poor. I have recently tried to set up acupuncture services for children with chronic pain at a tertiary paediatric hospital and for adults with chronic pain at a university hospital, but both failed despite the enthusiastic support of the pain consultants. The main resistance was the lack of
358
acupuncturists within the NHS and the long process in setting up a clearly useful service to the population. I thank the authors for conducting their study as it shows that acupuncture, in combination with usual medical care, has a role to play in the emergency setting. Jason Lie
Correspondence to Dr Jason Lie, North Western Deanery, Manchester, UK; [email protected]
Competing interests None. Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
To cite Lie J. Acupunct Med 2014;32:358. Received 21 June 2014 Accepted 27 June 2014 Published Online First 7 July 2014 Acupunct Med 2014;32:358. doi:10.1136/acupmed-2014-010620
REFERENCES 1 Zhang AL, Parker SJ, Smit DV, et al. Acupuncture and standard emergency department care for pain and/or nausea and its impact on emergency care delivery: a feasibility study. Acupunct Med 2014;32:250–6. 2 Lie J. Letter on whiplash injury. Acupunct Med 2011;29:73–4. 3 Appleby J, Crawford R, Emmerson C. How cold will it be? Prospects for NHS funding: 2011–17. London: The King’s Fund, 2009. 4 National Health Service. Making the NHS more efficient and less bureaucratic. Department of Health and the Rt Hon Earl Howe. London: National Health Service, 2013.
Acupunct Med August 2014 Vol 32 No 4
Downloaded from http://aim.bmj.com/ on April 17, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Use of acupuncture in the emergency department Jason Lie Acupunct Med 2014 32: 358 originally published online July 7, 2014
doi: 10.1136/acupmed-2014-010620 Updated information and services can be found at: http://aim.bmj.com/content/32/4/358
These include:
References Email alerting service
This article cites 2 articles, 2 of which you can access for free at: http://aim.bmj.com/content/32/4/358#BIBL Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
