Earlier today, NHS England announced a consultation regarding the availability of homeopathic remedies on prescription, recommending that no new prescriptions ought to be written for homeopathy. The consultation launch has been accompanied by a report which highlights that “NHS England’s view is that, at best, homeopathy is a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS funds which could better be devoted to treatments that work.”
Good Thinking Society welcomes the report, which comes two years after our legal challenge to the Department of Health called for precisely such a ban on prescribing homeopathic remedies. In October 2015, correspondence from Bindmans LLP, acting on behalf of the Good Thinking Society, urged the Department of Health to add homeopathic products to the NHS Blacklist. Rather than face a Judicial Review, the Department of Health agreed to conduct a consultation with a view to blacklisting homeopathy – the inclusion of homeopathy in this NHS England consultation is, in effect, the Department of Health’s response to our legal correspondence.
Michael Marshall, Project Director of the Good Thinking Society, said of the report: “As every credible medical body knows, homeopathic remedies are simply not effective for any condition, and it is good to see NHS England officially acknowledge that fact.
“Our charity has been prompting the government to undertake this review for two years now, and we hope this means we will now finally see an end to NHS funds being spent on treatments that have no value to patients.”
The public consultation is open until October 21st, with members of the public and interested organisations invited to submit their thoughts on the proposals via an online survey:
https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/items-routinely-prescribed/consultation/intro/
As with other recent homeopathy consultations, Good Thinking will be submitting our thoughts and encouraging others to do the same. This is a hugely significant step in the right direction, and we are hoping that the end of the consultation will see the NHS adopting the recommendations of NHS England in ending funding for homeopathy and herbal medicine.
