A medical visionary working tirelessly for the benefit of us all

Yesterday, The Hinckley Times published a report on Parliament’s foremost medical expert which I take the liberty of reproducing below in a slightly shortened version.

Alternative therapy proponent David Tredinnick has pitched in with the possibility of complementary practitioners being the solution to the current A&E crisis. The Tory MP for Bosworth raised the issue with the Department of Health saying: “To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of regulated complementary and alternative medical practitioners to reducing demands on the NHS.” The question came against the backdrop of the nation’s casualty departments being swamped with new cases since Christmas.

Despite Mr Tredinnick’s pleas his faith in less mainstream medical care was not supported by Government health chiefs. In a written answer to the former Grenadier Guardsman, the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Health, Daniel Poulter, said: “Practitioners of complementary and alternative medicines are not subject to statutory regulation. A working group has been established to consider a number of matters relating to the use of herbal and traditional medicines by practitioners. I know my hon. Friend is a member of this working group. “The findings of the working group will be published in due course, once it has finished its work. Until that working group has reported, no assessment can be made of the contribution of such practitioners to reducing demands on the National Health Service.”

Just days before in the House of Commons, Mr Tredinnick was apparently slapped down by a fellow Conservative MP and GP Sarah Wollaston when he called for a homeopathic flu vaccine to be given to people at risk this winter. Making the suggestion in his role as a member of the Health Select Committee he was rebuked by Mrs Wollaston, the chairman of the group, who distanced herself and said she would “personally be horrified” if his view was taken up.

Mr Tredinnick’s Liberal Democrat opponent councillor Michael Mullaney, said: “Dr Sarah Wollaston is a highly respected GP and Conservative MP whose background in the health service makes her someone who should be listened to on health issues. Unlike Mr Tredinnick, who has no formal medical training, yet constantly tries to tell doctors how to do their job. “If even Dr Wollaston, a fellow Conservative MP, is saying David Tredinnick is wrong and should be ignored, it is time he listened and stopped opening his mouth on things he knows nothing about. Mr Tredinnick has told doctors not to operate on a full moon and told GPs to use patients’ horoscopes when they come for consultations. With his way out views, Mr Tredinnick is increasingly becoming a joke even to his fellow Conservative MPs. How can he represent the people of Hinckley and Bosworth when even his own fellow Conservative MPs are condemning his views?”

Cllr Mullaney’s remarks relate to an episode in the Commons in October 2009 when Mr Tredinnick said blood didn’t clot when there was a full moon and more recently when the MP advocated the integration of astrology into the NHS.

I am deeply saddened by this unfair opposition to my friend Tredinnick. Finally, we have someone in Parliament who shows us a way out of the crisis and all we can do is to slap him down! Just think how much we could gain from his innovations:

• crystal healers and Reiki masters could take the pressure off A+E departments throughout the country;
• homeopathic vaccinations would protect us all from Ebola and other nasty infections;
• astrology could replace expensive screening programs which are of disputed value anyway.

I find it truly depressing to realise that we live in a time where great visionaries like Tredinnick are viciously belittled and their progressive messages ignored. We certainly do this at our very own peril! To me it is clear that none other than BIG PHARMA is behind this deplorable development.

I for one urge the good citizens of Bosworth to continue voting for this genius, and I vow to plead with the next prime minister to make Tredinnick secretary of health – this shrewd move would significantly strengthen the Tory’s effort to save out National Health Service for the benefit of us all.