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Half of general practices in England now offer patients some access to complementary or alternative medicines. New research shows that there has been a substantial increase in provision since 1995, when a similar study by the same authors found that 40% of practices were offering complementary or alternative medicines. “Increased provision by the primary health care team, coupled with its use for priority patient groups, suggests that CAM [complementary or alternative medicine] is regarded by many GPs as having a role to play in patient management,” says a report of the study in Family Practice (2003:20:575-7). The …