Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science

Wynford Dore has now issued a response to those affected by Dore’s financial problems (oddly, posted on Dore’s forum, instead of on their homepage). While Dore’s UK’s homepage continues to refer to Dore being “put into the hands of advisors”, Dore’s statement refers to “Administrators”. However, this leaves a number of serious questions unanswered:

• Who are Dore UK’s administrators (apparently, this will be posted on Dore’s UK site at some future point - but why hasn’t this important information already been released)? Dore’s administrators are “Joanne Wright, Fraser Gray and Jamie Gleave, all of Kroll”. See below for details.
• Will staff get paid what they are owed? Will families get a refund of what they have paid?
• What will happen to Dore in other parts of the world? Will Dore centres continue to operate as normal in other countries, or will they be going into administration? And are Dore centres still taking families’ money?

I would also note that - as well as failing to answer such important practical questions - Wynford’s 740 word long statement does not contain the word ’sorry’ or ‘apology’. While I have my objections to Wynford’s approach, I would have hoped that he would at least have had the decency to make a public apology to all the staff, families and children who have been and are being affected by the financial problems faced by the company.

While waiting for Dore to answer such questions, I would strongly recommend that affected families and staff seek appropriate advice. I am not a lawyer - and this blog is certainly not a source of legal advice - but in the UK, the Citizens’ Advice Bureau is a good (free) starting point, for information both on your legal rights and on any benefits you may be entitled to. You will find additional practical information on this blog post. Taking action sooner rather than later may help you to minimise your losses. If you are considering signing up for a Dore programme elsewhere in the world, I would strongly recommend that you do not hand over any money or sign any contracts until the situation has stabilised.

UPDATE: Gimpy has now posted details of Dore’s administrators:

Joanne Wright, Fraser Gray and Jamie Gleave, all of Kroll, were appointed Joint Administrators of DDAT (UK) Limited and Camden Holdings Limited on 28 May 2008…The Joint Administrators are in discussions with potential purchasers of the business with the aim of securing a sale which provides continuity of treatment for customers.

For all general enquiries concerning treatment, please contact the helpline on 01926 514 033 or by email at dore@dore.co.uk. The Joint Administrators office may be contacted directly on 0161 838 4543 or dorehelpline@kroll.com.

Gimpy also posted details of a Guardian article about Dore: a bit out-of-date by now, and rather too generous about the quality of Dore’s research, but it’s nice to see something on this in the national mainstream media at last.