Cancer Council WA has defended offering free ‘energy healing’ to oncology patients after it was shortlisted for the annual Bent Spoon pseudoscience award from Australian Skeptics.

Australian Skeptics says the charity has been providing a series of complementary therapies including the energy channelling therapy reiki and foot-based reflexology.

Although it appears to have been updated, Australian Skeptics said the charity’s website had at one point referred to research claiming it found that “the effect of reiki can be demonstrated through changes to a recipient’s biology after they have received reiki for 30 minutes”.

It said the council has also offered patients reflexology, a modality intended to stimulate energy pathways, declaring that clinical trials had shown it “reduced pain and anxiety and helps improve quality of life, particularly for those receiving palliative care”.