Homeopathy and the NHS in Scotland

There is a BBC documentary showing tonight in Scotland (BBC One Scotland 1930 or channel 971 for non-Scottish viewers) titled ‘Magic or Medicine – Homeopathy and the NHS’.  You might think that this documentary was treading old ground and that issues of homeopathy in the NHS were already well understood.  However, healthcare is a devolved matter in Scotland, and thus healthcare spending is controlled by the Scottish government so arguments have to be fought anew north of the border.  In fact the dynamics of electoral politics in Scotland are such that The Scottish Green Party bear some considerable responsibility for homeopathy on the NHS, unlike in England where they are an irrelevance.  This is why this BBC Scotland documentary is to be welcomed.

According to this BBC article by the lead reporter Scotland spends disproportionately more than England on homeopathy, as FOI requests show. Scottish lay homeopaths are also shown to be as stupid as their English cousins in offering homeopathic versions of vaccines.  This is something that the professional homeopathic societies have been ignoring, or even endorsing, for some time and now something that the medical homeopaths are creeping towards.

The Scotsman carries a piece by Dr Brian Kaplan, a medical homeopath, Harley Street physician and Member of the Faculty of Homeopathy, today defending homeoapthy on the NHS in response to the documentary, that opens with the following statement:

NO DOCTOR who uses homeopathy would support the use of such treatment as a vaccination. This may be supported by some non-doctors using homeopathy, but it is not something the medical community would advocate.

Sadly Dr Kaplan views are more conservative than those of his professional society.  The journal Homeopathy, is published by the Faculty of Homeopathy and edited by Peter Fisher, the head of the, soon to be renamed, Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.  This journal recently described a homeopathic vaccine as “Similar to a conventional vaccine” before going on to argue that homeopathic vaccines have a place in medical care:

“Homeoprophylaxis with nosodes could be a bridging device in a serious epidemic for the period until a fully effective vaccine is available. In less serious diseases, it could be the only prophylaxis offered. The lack of side effects, low cost, and rapid speed of manufacture and deployment would make it acceptable for use in large populations. Coverage of animal vector populations with the nosode may also be feasible.”

and

Infectious diseases are still the bane of humanity, particularly in the developing world. Effectively reducing their morbidity and mortality using homeopathic nosodes could have immediate practical and economic impacts.

I recommend you read apgaylard’s excellent analysis of this editorial and surrounding issues. Brian Kaplan would also do well to read this before making statements that are easily shown to be untrue.

It seems the only thing that separates medical homeopaths from lay homeopaths these days is not their ethics or their reluctance to use dangerously ineffective treatments, it is NHS funding and it’s time to bring that to an end.