'Stop NHS Funding of Homeopathy" urges Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee

[Snorbs]

The Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee, a cross-party group of MPs, has been taking expert evidence concerning homeopathy over the last year and has come to the conclusion that homeopathy is no more than placebo. "There has been enough testing of homeopathy and plenty of evidence showing that it is not efficacious." Also that "Homeopaths treat the kinds of illnesses that clear up on their own (self-limiting) or are susceptible to placebo responses". Its report concludes:

"The Government should stop allowing the funding of homeopathy on the NHS.

We conclude that placebos should not be routinely prescribed on the NHS. The
funding of homeopathic hospitals ? hospitals that specialise in the administration of placebos - should not continue, and NHS doctors should not refer patients to
homeopaths."

Full details and the report itself available in PDF format here.

The Government has not yet confirmed how it will respond to this report.

and they've only just come to this conclusion? What took them so long?

marking my place as going to bed and will be interested in reading this tomorrow.

Ooh, there's a good overview of the report on the Guardian's site here.

As for why it took them so long... I dunno. I was frankly appalled when I heard that the NHS had started funding homeopathic treatments a few years back.

I used to work near the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital and I often used to wonder, while walking past it, why they had such a big building. Surely a smaller building would've made the treatments more effective?

As far as I'm aware, there are only two small homeopathic clinics in the uk, so hardly a therapy that is routinely prescribed. I guess there is more money spent in this exercise of trying to stop it, than what the clinics cost.

FWIW, Homeopathy did for me what years of Citalopram couldn't so... as much as I don't understand it, and will never do, I'm giving it the benefit of doubt.

Snorbs

According to this article in the FT, the NHS is spending £4m a year on homeopathic placebos treatments. And that's not including the £20m they've sunk into the Royal London refurb.

Obviously, they are spending far more than a years ago when I last checked. However, in medical terms... it is not that much I'm afraid.

Maybe £4m pa is small beans compared to the rest of the NHS budget. But I suspect it's a lot less than the amount spent by the Science and Technology Committee to review the evidence, speak to the experts and conclude that homeopathy is snake oil.

There's certainly more than two small homeopathic clinics in the UK.

According to the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital site.

'Homeopathy has been part of the NHS since it began in 1948. It is practised in five homeopathic hospitals in Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Tunbridge Wells. There are also a number of NHS homeopathic clinics.'

On the other hand, though - placebos do work & they've been proven to work. GPs aren't allowed to prescribed sugar pills any more so homeopathic clinics are their last chance to get a small but vocal minority of moaning patients off their hands .

Placebos do indeed work for some things. But we might as well be honest about it and forget all the "memory of water", "like cures like" and "succussion" bullshit.

It is a bit of a "No Shit Sherlock" moment isn't it.

Perhaps they could use the funding diverted from this to finding out how and why placebos work. That would be awesome.

I don't see any harm in 'treating' with homeopathy, after all it's just water, it won't do any harm. I don't see at all how the NHS has spent £4m handing out water! How much did they get back in? Many patients would have been exempt but the others would have paid £7-odd for their vial of water, it should have added up pretty quickly...

I suppose it's one of those inherited situations that nobody has bothered to address until now. But now that it's been pointed out, it does seem a bit bonkers that there seems to be an exception made for homeopathy, when other medicines licensed for use on the NHS are done so because of evidence of efficacy. Maybe it's because homeopathy isn't medicine....

I gather from Bad Science that the homeopathy lot claim water only has a memory if you hit it with a leather strap.

They've been trying to get it off the books for a long time. The trouble is that it is pretty hard to stop funding something that has been funded since the start of the NHS, especially when it involves redundancies as in these homeopathy only hospitals. But its a general problem - unless you can show a procedure or treatment causes actual harm to patients, it's very hard to stop people prescribing/performing them. And even then, you need people to produce the data to show that there is harm/ the treatment is not as effective as another - and it's hard to force people to publish negative results.

Agree with those above appalled by NHS funding of homeopathic claptrap.

But, seems to me the interesting bit about intentional use of placebos is being missed in the coverage. Maybe GPs should be allowed to prescribe water/sugar pills? Is it possible to be open about a placebo and still have it work? Money would be much better spent on answering that question - could save the NHS ££££££s

(Just been listening to R4 You & Yours on the report - predictably horrendous. DH driven to switch it off twice during the "debate". What is the purpose of that programme, and WHY is it on for prime lunchtime listening???)

The thing about the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital building is that a lot of it is now used for Great Ormond Street outpatients clinics. My dd had appointments there.

Didn't it have something to do with horses Longtalljosie? Still I would rather pay to be hit with a leather strap than for a bottle of water.

Lots and lots of good research goes on into placebos and how they act.
Homeopathy lot of nonsense in my opinion but right and proper that Parliamentary party should consider it properly before they stop funding - and they have
spent the money on maggie's centres instead

Many years ago, I worked with a GP practice that paid for a homeopathic contract. They referred their more persistent patients there, knowing that it would keep them away from the surgery for a while. They claimed it was money well spent.

Snorbs

Sparks - my dd2 also has her Metabolic clinic appts there: D'ya think I should ask the homeopaths what they'd reccomend for Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Deficiency?

Hahahaha.

Have also read "Bad Science". Homeopathy and Chinese medecine make me mad!

You could ask, but what's the betting they wouldn't know what pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency is?

not sure even I know!