A doctor specialising in convalescence and recovery has been given an official warning after recommending two patients look to alternative ‘therapies’, including I Ching fortune telling cards, the Telegraaf says on Wednesday.

A medical disciplinary board said in its ruling that ‘recommending alternative treatment methods should not be done in an ordinary hospital’.

The two patients, a couple, said alternative treatment came up for discussion several times in their meetings with the doctor, who told them she used I Ching cards herself.

They said later the doctor had used ‘hard sell techniques’, a claim which she denied. She also said the patients had asked about other options which did not fit into established treatments.