The NHS must stop funding homeopathy, doctors at the British Medical Association (BMA) annual conference have said today. Doctors voted 3 to 1 to ban NHS funding for homeopathic remedies.
Naomi Phillips, BHA Head of Public Affairs, said, ‘We support the BMA in today’s clear call to stop the NHS funding homeopathy. It is outrageous that NHS is funding the provision and testing of treatments that have no evidential basis in their claims of effectiveness.’
‘We are working with other organisations, as well as our membership and supporters, to campaign to ensure that NHS funding is not directed towards treatments such as homeopathic ones that have not been proven to work, or on research that is not backed up by scientific evidence.’
Ms Phillips continued, ‘Whether NHS or privately funded, it is also our position that where homeopathic products are sold in pharmacies, pharmacists have a duty to tell patients that homeopathic products and treatments are not effective.’
Notes
The BHA recently responded to a consultation on new guidance for pharmacists. The draft guidance was produced by the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, in response to recommendations by the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee following its inquiry on the use of homeopathy in the health service earlier this year.
Read the BHA’s response to the consultation on guidance for pharmacists in Northern Ireland.
The House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee report is available here.
For further comment or information, contact Naomi Phillips, 07540 257101, 020 7079 3585.
The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious and campaigning for an end to religious privilege and discrimination based on religion or belief.