AN EAST Cleveland doctor is hoping to use an awareness week to let people in the region know of an alternative therapy available on the NHS.

Dr Roger Neville-Smith is a medical homeopath and a GP at Skelton, and says many of his patients benefit from the therapy.

He believes many people do not realise that homeopathy is available on the NHS or that it is practised by an increasing number of doctors. Dr Neville-Smith is using Homeopathy Awareness Week, which began on Wednesday, to let people know about the complementary therapy.

Homeopath is an individual and holistic approach to treatment which uses natural substances in minute doses.

Research shows 40 per cent of GPs are providing complementary therapies from their surgeries. Dr Neville-Smith, who has been using homeopathy at his practice since 1995, said: "In an ideal world, all doctors would be trained in homeopathy and able to use it as part of their every day prescribing. This could soon be a reality as an increasing number of medical schools are including some teaching aobut complementary medicine in their courses.

"Homeopathy has helped many of my patients, especially those who were not responding to conventional treatment or suffer from side effects. A truly holistic approach to understanding my patients has helped in conventional as well as homeopathic treatments."