For some the benefits of alternative medicine will always be doubtful, making the spending of NHS cash on such therapies a sore subject.

A group of the country's top doctors are so worried about the NHS pumping scarce cash into "unproven" therapies like homeopathy and reflexology they have put pen to paper.

Michael Baum, Emeritus Professor of Surgery at University College London, and 12 other scientists have written to the country's 476 acute and primary care trusts urging only proven, evidence-based therapies are provided ree to patients.

Some Trusts provide free alternative therapies like homeopathy, acupuncture and reflexology alongside conventional medicine.

Brighton and Hove Primary Care Trust is not one of them.

The doctors' letter describes homeopathy as "an implausible treatment for which over a dozen systematic reviews have failed to produce convincing evidence of effectiveness".

It criticised a Government-funded guide on homeopathy for patients and the Smallwood report, commissioned by Prince Charles, which suggested better access to alternative therapies in the NHS might lead to widespread benefits.

The letter added: "There has been a concerted campaign to promote complementary and alternative medicine as a component of healthcare provision. Treatments covered by this definition include some which have not been tested as pharmaceutical products, but which are known to cause adverse effects, and others that have no demonstrable benefits.

"While medical practice must remain open to new discoveries for which there is convincing evidence, including any branded as alternative', it would be highly irresponsible to embrace any medicine as though it were a matter of principle."

The letter's signatories include Sir James Black, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988.