The Prince of Wales was in his element earlier this week when he addressed the World Health Assembly and claimed that integrated healthcare could help to create a “powerful healing force for our world.”

The Prince has worked for many years to encourage integrated healthcare in the UK – an approach which combines the best of complementary and modern medicine.

The Prince told delegates that ancient treatments like acupuncture understood the need to “maintain balance and harmony with our minds and bodies and the natural world”. He also stressed the importance of an “integrated and holistic” approach to modern medicine that also dealt with factors like housing, the environment and agriculture.

Prince Charles told the delegates which included foreign health ministers from across the globe: “I believe that the proper mix of proven complementary, traditional and modern remedies, which emphasise the active participation of the patient can help to create a powerful healing force for our world.”

He also defended the use of complementary therapies telling the audience that UK research had shown 55pc of GPs were referring their patients to complementary practitioners. He added: “For the past 24 years I have argued that patients should be able to gain the benefit of the ‘best of both worlds’ – complementary and orthodox as part of an integrated approach to healing.

“Many of today’s complementary therapies are rooted in ancient traditions that intuitively understand the need to maintain balance and harmony with our minds, bodies and the natural world.

“Much of this knowledge, often based on oral traditions, is sadly being lost yet orthodox medicine has so much to learn from it.”

The Prince spoke of examples of complementary treatments that have increasing evidence to show their effectiveness in improving well-being.

He said: “While scientists try to learn more about how acupuncture works, increasingly robust evidence, drawn from a number of international studies, indicates that it does work, particularly for the treatment of conditions such as osteoarthritis of the knee.

“It can, according to evidence, also alleviate the nausea and vomiting that can be so debilitating for those taking anti-cancer drugs.

“In the case of herbal applications such as St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), which has been used since the time of the ancient Greeks, about 30 clinical trials have shown some positive effects in treating non-severe depression with a remarkably low incidence of side-effects.”

The Prince also warned that the destruction of habitats around the world could result in the loss of “vital life support systems” for future generations.