There Should Be More Homeopathy In NHS, Not Less

A group of doctors and scientists have written to all Primary Care Trusts advising them not to fund homeopathy in the NHS on the grounds that it is "unsupported by evidence".

The BHA strongly refutes this claim.

Our review of 119 randomised peer-reviewed clinical trials (RCTs) of homeopathy to the end of 2005 shows that 49% show positive results for homeopathy. Only 3% were negative. The remaining 48% were inconclusive, which does not mean negative – it means that we need more research. However, homeopathic medicines aren't dangerous and can't be patented (they have been in use for over 200 years) so there are none of the financial incentives for research funding that we see with conventional medicines. It is also notoriously difficult to design meaningful clinical trials to test a system of medicine that depends so strongly on the selection of the most appropriate medicine for the individual.

What we are witnessing here is a vendetta by a small group of doctors and scientists. It is quite extraordinary that Primary Care Trusts may be influenced by them. We should all be alarmed by this abuse of status and power.

The homeopathic hospitals provide a unique service that is patient-centred, of the highest standards of clinical excellence and fills many of the so-called "effectiveness gaps" that exist despite the advances of modern medicine. Their driving aim is to help patients, not to con them. And they actually save the NHS money by helping many patients reduce their consumption of conventional drugs (1).

When the homeopathic hospitals became part of the NHS in 1948, Aneurin Bevan gave a commitment that "homeopathic institutions will be enabled to provide their own form of treatment and that the continuity of the characteristics of those institutions will be maintained". Since then many thousands of people have been treated at the hospitals. Service evaluation studies (2) consistently show that over 70% of patients report improvement to their health following treatment at the hospitals. The majority of patients have tried conventional medicine first, without success, and often have multiple chronic illnesses that are almost impossible for conventional medicine to treat but which respond well to the whole person approach of homeopathy. If homeopathy didn't work, the number of patients wanting treatment would be declining, not growing, and doctors wouldn't practise homeopathy or make referrals for it.

The way forward is not to starve the homeopathic hospitals of funds until they disappear. That would be a great disservice to patients, a short-term knee-jerk reaction to intensive lobbying by a small group of extremists. What we need is a much more enlightened discussion about and research into the phenomenon of homeopathy and how it can become a much more fully integrated part of our healthcare system.