In an effort to provide address the spiritual issues of its patients, administrators at a UK hospital aren't turning to men and women of the cloth as you might think. Instead, they're looking to hire a Reiki master – an occult-based technique that has no basis in science.

Breitbart is reporting on the efforts of the Princess Alexandra NHS Trust in Harlow, Essex, to hire a “Reiki Master Usui System qualified” therapist to provide spiritual assistance to “a maximum” of eight breast cancer patients a week."

Aside from being based on the manipulation of a universal life force energy which, according to best science of the day, does not exist, Reiki employes a "spirit guide" who the practitioner channels while providing the treatment.

In other words, it relies on the use of occult powers and practices.

Oddly enough, the advertisement for a Reiki Master coincided with a report released on the same day by an NHS watchdog group known as the Care Quality Commission, which found that three out of four UK hospitals are failing to meet safety standards and two-thirds were found to be offering substandard care to patients.

Princess Alexandra NHS Trust certainly falls into that category by offering a scientifically unfounded treatment that is spiritually dangerous to its patients.

Unfortunately, things could get even worse because the nation’s health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is allegedly a supporter of the ill-fated alternative medicine known as homeopathy. A committee in the UK parliament recently conducted a large-scale review of homeopathy trials and studies and determined that there is no evidence to support its efficacy for the treatment of any disease or condition. It recommended that all funding be stopped.

Apparently, Mr. Hunt didn’t get the memo (nor did Prince Charles, for that matter, who remains a staunch ally of the useless treatments).

As for Reiki, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops made a similar determination in 2009 when it cautioned Catholic healthcare providers not to allow the practice in its facilities.

“In terms of caring for one’s spiritual health, there are important dangers,” the bishops write. “To use Reiki one would have to accept at least in an implicit way central elements of the worldview that undergirds Reiki theory, elements that belong neither to Christian faith nor to natural science.”

Princess Alexandra NHS Trust says it strives to provide “Respectful, Caring, Responsible, and Committed” service to its patients; surely the best way to do that is to at least make sure the services it offers are scientifically sound.

And as long as it truly believes no harm can be done by exposing unsuspecting patients to the occult, then it would be best for them to stay out of the “spiritual health” business altogether.