Leading homeopathic organisations reject criticisms of homeopathy
23-05-2006 1:31 pm
The British Homeopathic Association and Faculty of Homeopathy reject the claim by thirteen doctors that homeopathy should not be provided by the NHS. “Homeopathy has been part of the NHS since 1948,” says Chief Executive Sally Penrose. “GPs and consultants have been referring patients to the five NHS homeopathic hospitals for nearly 60 years and they are in the best position to judge the effectiveness of the treatment.” A study published last October of 6,500 patients treated at Bristol Homeopathic Hospital showed that over 70% of follow-up patients reported an improvement to their health following treatment. A wide range of chronic diseases were treated including eczema, asthma, migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, menopause, arthritis, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. Many of the patients in the study had been referred for homeopathy by their doctors because conventional medicine had failed to help. The authors of the letter to PCTs claim that, “over a dozen systematic reviews have failed to produce convincing evidence of effectiveness”. This statement ignores the fact that focussed meta-analyses show homeopathy’s effectiveness in hay fever, post-operative ileus, rheumatoid arthritis and childhood diarrhoea and there are positive randomised controlled trials for a growing range of conditions including asthma, glue ear, influenza, pain, anxiety, ADHD, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, migraine, osteoarthritis and PMS. The critics of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) claim that NHS funds being used to pay for complementary medicine could be better diverted to “proven” treatments. Dr Peter Fisher of the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital comments: ‘In fact, cost effectiveness studies consistently show that CAM is cost-effective: adding CAM therapies to conventional care results in improved outcomes for the similar costs or actually reduces total costs’. “There is a vast difference between the sort of trials funded by pharmaceutical companies with a vested interest in gaining approval for their drugs and what happens when those drugs are prescribed to patients” comments Dr Bob Leckridge from Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital and former President of the Faculty of Homeopathy. “The NHS also spends a vast sum each year on dealing with the side-effects of many conventional medicines. The total amount spent in the NHS on complementary and alternative medicines is tiny in comparison.” “We will fight for patients’ right to choice in the NHS” says Sally Penrose. “Conventional medicine doesn’t have all the answers and many people find the side-effects of some drugs unacceptable. It’s important that patients should have access to other approaches, especially where these have a strong record of making patients feel better. What we need is more research and a more open attitude to how to assess the effectiveness of CAM.” Ends For more information or interviews, please contact Sarah Buckingham on 0870 444 3957 or 07956 012648 (email: sbuckingham@trusthomeopathy.org)