prince of wales correspondence with the secretary of state for health

DESCRIPTION

Cherry Knowle hospital siteThe old victorian asylum building on the Cherry Knowle site in Sunderland, also known as the Laurels Block, was decommissioned in 1995. Since then the Mental Health Trust (South of Tyne and Wearside) received outline planning permission for redeveloping the site for housing, a hospital and community facilities.In 2003 The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, now known as The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, conducted an Enquiry by Design exercise. The Foundation worked with the local community and stakeholders to come up with a new vision for the site. It identified that the original site of the hospital would be regenerated as housing, and that a new hospital and around 800 homes could be built on site.In 2004 it was announced that the site would be transferred (together with other NHS surplus estates) to the English Partnerships agency. Following this change in ownership the proposed plans for the site stalled, leaving the hospital and its estate to fall into further disrepair. His Royal Highness’s correspondence emphasises his commitment to the rescue of historic buildings with input from, and for the benefit of, the local community. The correspondence highlights the work that The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community did with the local community. It also explains the ways in which the community’s vision could be implemented following the change of ownership of the site.Herbal medicine and acupunctureThis correspondence was with the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the Secretary of State for Health, John Reid.The European Directive on Traditional Herbal Medical Products (THMPD) was enacted into UK law in 2004, and fully implemented in 2011. According to the European Herbal and Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association (EHTPA), this left many practitioners of herbal medicine unregulated. This, in turn, meant that a significant number of herbal remedies, on which patients had come to rely, disappeared. Third-party suppliers were no longer able to offer products to practitioners, as, without statutory regulation, the practitioners were not recognised under the terms of the Directive. As an alternative, people have since sourced remedies from unknown suppliers, often over the internet.In 2005 the Department of Health was considering regulation of herbal medicine and acupuncture, following the European Directive.