NHS boss says prescribing homeopathy for pain is ‘absurd’
- Simon Stevens announced plans to save the NHS £1 billion over the next 2 years
- The chief executive of NHS England said it will have to cut back on some drugs
- But it will still spend upwards of £4 million each year on homeopathic medicines
- He said the NHS shouldn’t use any of its budget on the controversial treatment
Stephen Matthews For Mailonline
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Homeopathy is a placebo and it is ‘absurd’ for GPs to prescribe it, the boss of the NHS claims.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has called for the £4 million spent each year on homeopathic medicines to be cut.
It comes after he announced a series of cost-cutting measures designed to save the health service £1 billion over the next two years.
To fund the plans, it is to cut back on certain low-priority procedures and drugs with ‘little or no clinical value’.
But it will continue to spend the seven-figure amount on controversial homeopathic medicines, despite little evidence proving it to work.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has called for the £4 million spent on homeopathic medicines to be cut
Speaking on the BBC’s Today Programme, he admitted that the NHS shouldn’t use any of its diminished budget on those types of medicine.
He said: ‘We can see that despite the fact we are a hugely effective service… there is still waste.
‘Some of that is patients are being passed from pillar to post and ending up in the wrong place, rather than being looked after in the right place.
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‘I don’t know if that’s the right number [£4 million]. But those would be a classic example of those sorts of things we want to see less of.’
Despite the Department of Health not keeping track of how much it spends on the practice – a charity previously reported it being in excess of £5 million.
Towards the end of 2015, Good Thinking Charity estimated it was enough to pay the salaries of 239 nurses, Yahoo reports.
The NHS will continue to spend money on controversial homeopathic medicines, despite plans saying it will cut down on drugs with little proof of working
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?
Homeopathy is classed as a ‘complementary alternative medicine’, setting it apart from conventional Western medicine.
According to the British Homeopathy Association, the remedies are used by over 200 million people worldwide to treat both acute and chronic conditions.
Homeopathic remedies are prepared by taking a substance, plant, animal or chemical material, diluting it in water or alcohol, then forcefully hitting the container against a hand or surface.
The medicines come in the form of pellets to be placed under the tongue, tablets, liquids, ointments, sprays and creams.
It is based on the principle of ‘like cures like’, the British Homeopathic Association states.
The idea is that substances that cause illnesses can become remedies in small, highly diluted doses.
Unveiling a new blueprint for the NHS, Mr Stevens warned patients to expect a ‘trade-off’ for improvements made elsewhere.
Users of the health service will be made to wait longer for routine operations under the radical plans to prioritise cancer care, AE departments and GP surgeries.
All non-urgent operations may be affected including hip and knee replacements and cataract repairs, as well as diagnostic tests and scans.
Other patients face being told they do not need surgery as part of plans to increase use of alternatives such as physiotherapy.
GPs are being urged to reduce hospital referrals and avoid sending patients for certain procedures no longer deemed appropriate.
Sandra Gidley, chairwoman of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said earlier this week: ‘We are surprised that homeopathy, which has no scientific evidence of effectiveness, is not on the list for review.
‘We are in agreement with NHS England that products with low or no clinical evidence of effectiveness should be reviewed with urgency.’
The British Homeopathic Association has been approached for comment.
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