Correspondence with John Eaton about the high price of RT

Hi John Eaton

I have been having RT with Georgiana Nye in Bristol since July of this year. My health has improved significantly over the past 3 months as a direct result of RT. For me, a big part of it's success has been Georgiana's approach as she is a fantastic therapist and a lovely warm, encouraging person. I'm really impressed with her and RT.

I do however, have one complaint to make on behalf of lots of people that I know with ME. You probably know what I am going to say already, but it is to do with the price. I understand that there are cost implications in delivering the training, supervising the therapists etc, but I really do believe that you are shooting yourself in the foot with pricing so high. I know from the community of PWME of which I am part, that many of them are put off by the price for 2 particular reasons.

The first is that they simply cannot afford to see a therapist twice a month at £80 a go, even if it does then extend to 3 weeks, 4 weeks etc. Most of the people I know with ME are unable to work, so where can they get the money from? I decided to get an overdraft, which is not ideal.

The second reason is that the price, which is much higher than pretty much any other type of therapy, feeds people's uncertainties about the genuineness of your organisation. Lots of people think that it is a 'rip off' or that you are simply exploiting vulnerable people. I belong to a local forum with about 50 members and I would say the majority of them don't trust you and I know from discussions that the price has a lot to do with that. I really feel that you are doing
yourself a disservice.

From my personal experience, I rate RT and I rate the therapist that I saw. I have kept a blog of my RT experiences so that others can benefit from my experience and I know that many people are watching to see what happens to me. What would be really great now, is if you could acknowledge that the price is prohibitive and lower it so that people don't fret about being conned out of money that they do not have. I'm not writing this to try and get my sessions cheaper as I don't plan to have any more. I am almost at the point of being discharged after 3 sessions, so would consider RT to have been successful for me.

I would appreciate a personal reply from you. I can let people on my forum know if you are willing to shift on price, which may mean that others take it up, where they may not have before.

I look forward to your response.

Miss B

-----------------------------

Dear Miss B

First of all - congratulations on your recovery. I am always touched when I hear of yet another person getting their health and their life back with the help of RT.

Please also allow me to come to the point:

I do not actually agree that our fees are expensive given that we are not government-funded. Private Doctors and Psychiatrists - who have nothing to offer people with CFS - will charge upwards of £150 per hour. Cognitive-Behavioural Therapists (who claim to have a remedy for CFS but don't) will charge £80 per hour or more - and the minimum length of
treatment is usually One year!

The fact that a therapist charges £80 per hour does not mean that she earns that amount. She will also need to pay rentals, insurance, registration fees, travel and other expenses. For each session she can also expect to do a further 30-45 minutes in Administration and Supervision.

For me, the real argument here is about government funding. So far the NHS has not yet recognised RT as treatment of choice for CFS. When it does many patients will be able to receive RT free of charge. While we are working extremely hard (unpaid of course!) to set up clinical trials and set up a dialogue with NHS decision-makers, they remain a slow-moving,
conservative and medically-biased institution. It may take years before we can acquire funding. Perhaps members of your Forum should write to their MP and demand that steps are taken to speed up this process?

In the meantime we are aware that many sufferers are on benefits or on low-incomes. Mindful of that fact, we ask all our therapists to reserve two places on their list for low-fee patients. Provided that the client is able to prove that they are on benefits the therapist will reduce the fee to £50 per hour if they have places. Please do be advised, however, that there is
usually a waiting list for these places.

I hope this answers your question fairly and that you can see that our fees are not unreasonable. Please feel free to quote this email to your colleagues.


With Best wishes

Dr John Eaton PhD
Director
Reverse Therapy UK Ltd
www.reversetherapy.com
--------------------------------------
Hi John

Thanks for your reply. I would say that it terms of my recovery, I don't consider myself to have my life back yet, but I'm on the way.

In response the rest of your reply, I'm aware that the £80 goes to cover lots of administrative costs, but I think we will have to agree to disagree on this because despite your reasonings, I still think the price is too high. I understand that there is a gap between what us people on the ground floor need and what people offering services can supply in terms of funding.

I agree that RT should be provided on the NHS, particularly as when I personally visited our local CFS/ME clinic in Bristol, there wasn't anything on offer for me as CBT and graded exercise where not deemed appropriate. I do not however, wish to get involved in campaigning or the political aspects of all this, because I know from previous experience that it frustrates me and drains the energy that I have. I also use a lot of my energy being involved in the local group. Maybe when I have energy to spare, I might be more willing, but I need everything I have for my recovery right now.

I will let people on the Bristol forum know that there are low-fee places available on a waiting list basis, which is at least a step in right direction from a pwme's perspective.

Thanks for responding and good luck with all the work. I really hope that the gatekeepers of the NHS can eventually judge RT on its outcomes rather than looking for research to prove that it works. If my story will contribute to that in any way, you are more than welcome to use it (littlemissreverse.blogspot.com).

Miss B
-----------------------------------

Thanks Miss B

Well, I do hope you get your life back as well, very soon.

Kind regards JOHN

Best wishes

Dr John Eaton PhD
Director
Reverse Therapy UK Ltd