The debate over the effectiveness of homeopathy that has rumbled on for decades is as strong today as it has ever been. Last month, amidst headlines surrounding the measles outbreak, alternative remedies business Neal’s Yard was criticised for promoting a book advocating homeopathic treatment for the disease.

That was followed by Sir Mark Walport, the new chief scientific advisor to the Government, claiming homeopathy has no medical benefit.

Yet the National Health Service spends about £4m a year on homeopathy and actually runs three homeopathic hospitals in Bristol, Glasgow and London, while the British Homeopathic Association claims 400 GPs use such treatments in everyday practice.

Supporters include health secretary Jeremy Hunt and Prince Charles and millions use homeopathic treatments every day.

Entering this debate comes a new business run by Kathryn Walker, a graduate of the School of Homeopathy.

Ms Walker came across homeopathy after experiencing great difficulty recovering from the death of her mother.

With her GP ultimately unable to help, she started looking for alternatives and found a homeopath who managed to treat her successfully.

She said: “I was given remedies but doses were minimal. I was given as little as possible of the substance which acted as a trigger.

“The body is the most amazing machine and it can overcome things with a little bit of help.

“I also had ovarian cysts and I was given something to take once a day and they disappeared. Once doctor said it was down to the homeopathic treatment while another said ‘as long as you feel better, it does not matter.’”

It was at that point that she decided to take her career in a new direction.

Ms Walker, 58, was born in Sunderland but left school at 15 and travelled to London to work before returning to the North East ten years later where she started studying, eventually earned a degree in history and social policy at Durham University.

After graduating she started a job working with prisoners’ families in jails across the region.

“I set up a system where children could get time with their fathers,” she explained.

After several years she went on to work for the New Bridge charity which had been set up by Lord Longford to help prisoners stay in touch with the outside world.

Twelve years ago she married Thames Valley police officer Tony Walker and set up her own business, Walker Research and Training, specialising in training for restorative justice which brings together criminals and their victims allowing both parties to come to terms with crime and its impact.

The business took off with major contracts from local authorities but she often found herself away from home and realised she wanted something different.

Ms Walker is still a director of the company but Mr Walker, having retired from the police, now manages it and she has turned her attentions to homeopathy.

She said: “I have gone from restoring relationships to trying to restore health. My previous job focused on families and now I am still doing that from a different angle.”

Ms Walker studied at the School of Homeopathy in Stroud, Gloucestershire for three years. It involved her spending three days a month at the school with more assignments every week. The course covered areas such as anatomy and physiology, pathology, disease and what is known as ‘materia medica’ — the study of homeopathic medicine.

Modern homeopathy originates from the late 18th century when Samuel Hahnemann developed his theory that a substance causing symptoms of a disease can be used to treat the condition in patients or ‘like cures like’.

Ms Walker says there are now about 3,000 remedies derived from plants, minerals and metals used to treat conditions ranging from allergies to varicose veins.

“It is a massive subject that you never stop studying but it is very important that everybody is treated as an individual. I am not looking at the ailments but how they manifest themselves.”

As a result, a patient’s first appointment with Ms Walker will last two hours during which she builds up a picture of their patterns of eating, drinking, sleeping and other factors such as stress.

Although she has just set up in business at the Back in Line Complementary Therapy Centre on Victoria Road, Bicester, she has been working from home in Marsh Gibbon for several months as well as seeing patients under supervision for two years.

She now has about 20 patients on her books with the emphasis on quality of care. As a result, she follows up with patients to see how they are responding and can make further suggestions. The initial consultation costs £60 with follow-up appointments £40.

“It is about encouraging people to take responsibility for their own health and what helps them. I had someone come in suffering from headaches but it seemed pretty obvious to me that the cause was them not eating breakfast.”

As for medical experts claiming homeopathy is not effective, Ms Walker is points to its prevalence in countries such as India while pointing out that many prescription drugs are actually harmful.

She believes homeopathy has its place and should not be dismissed out of hand, just as general medicine should not be the only solution.

“If I was having a heart attack I would not call for a homeopath!” she said. “But we have a code of ethics and I have never known anyone become ill through homeopathy.”