The study ordered by the Prince, a longstanding advocate of complementary and alternative medicines, claims that if they were more widely available on the NHS, the nation’s health and the wider economy would benefit.

However, the conclusions of the report, commissioned nine months ago, were said to have been watered down after a draft version was leaked to The Times this year. The report, published yesterday and led by Christopher Smallwood, a former chief economics adviser to Barclays Bank, found that people suffering from chronic conditions such as back pain, anxiety, stress and depression could benefit from such therapies. Its initial findings were condemned in August as “outrageous and deeply flawed” by Britain’s leading expert in the field.

Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at Exeter University, had criticised the researchers for exaggerating merits while “glossing over” problems of safety and effectiveness. Professor Ernst had been consulted by the researchers but said that his conclusions had largely been ignored in an attempt to persuade the Government to increase the provision of alternative therapies.

Yesterday’s report instead called on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to carry out a full clinical assessment of the cost effectiveness of five of the most popular therapies. “I am very pleased that, due to the intervention of several critical thinkers, this report seems to have changed considerably,” Professor Ernst said. “We should use those comple- mentary medicines which are backed up by good evidence. The uncritical integration of unproven treatments, however, would only establish double standards and turn out to be detrimental to all concerned, not least the patient.”

Clarence House insisted that the report had been conducted from an independent point of view, and that the Prince of Wales was involved only at the commissioning stage.

Although complementary therapies involve a range of treatments, the nine-month study focused on five popular types — osteopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture, homoeopathy and herbal medicine. Britons spend an estimated £130 million a year on such therapies and they are becoming increasingly popular.

After a pilot study in which patients were treated with complementary therapies, there was a 30 per cent drop in the number of consultations with GPs and a saving in prescription drugs bills of 50 per cent, Mr Smallwood said. Separate research shows that more than two thirds of Britons believe that such therapies are as valid as conventional treatments.

But Evan Harris, MP, the Liberal Democrat science spokesman, said yesterday: “The only NHS treatments we should be expanding are those where there is sound evidence that they are safe, effective and cost-effective.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “Many GPs now give access to some form of complementary therapy — a recent study by Sheffield University showed that almost half of all general practices in England gave access to some form of complementary therapy.”

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