‘Witchcraft’ hospital (National Hospital for Homeopathy) for chop?
Homeopathic treatments centre could face closure as part of NHS cutbacks
Published: 01 July, 2010
by TOM FOOT
IT is derided among medical experts as a centre for “witchcraft” – but could the NHS funding crisis spell the end for the National Hospital for Homeopathy?
The future of the building in Great Ormond Street, part of which was opened by Prince Charles in 2005, is hanging in the balance after the British Medical Association (BMA) told NHS bosses to stop funding its alternative treatments.
NHS Camden – the biggest spenders on homeopathy in the country with a £1.86million budget – has ordered an immediate review after a survey found patients supported proposals to decommission services.
Dr Tom Dolphin, deputy chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, said: “Homeopathy is witchcraft. It is a disgrace that nestling between the National Hospital for Neurology and Great Ormond Street there is a National Hospital for Homeopathy which is paid for by the NHS.”
The alternative medicine, devised in the 18th century by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann, is based on a like-for-like theory where substances which cause symptoms in a healthy person can, when vastly diluted, cure the same problems in a sick person.
The National Hospital for Homeopathy, part of the University College London hospitals, has a contract with both Camden and Islington primary care trusts and has 30,000 outpatient appointments a year.
Elisabeth Alexander-MacIsaac, who lives in Gloucester Road, Primrose Hill, has been treated at the there for the last six years.
The 64-year-old physiotherapist, who developed ME after contracting meningitis, believes it is solely down to the hospital that she has retained her self-respect and autonomy in spite of her illness.
Ms Alexander-MacIsaac said: “I dread to think what would happen to patients like me if the hospital lost its funding. I think we would be very much at the mercy of a system that does no research into ME.
“Normal GPs are unable to treat ME successfully, but the Homeopathic Hospital is a different medical world altogether.”
During her care, Ms Alexander-Isaac received acupuncture and also natural remedies as treatment for ME, which she says has made it much easier for her to rest without feeling pain.
Liz Wise, acting chief executive of NHS Camden, said complementary medicine was part of an ongoing review of the £500m health services it commissions.
She added: “An essential part of that review will be to seek the views and opinions of service users and wider Camden stakeholders.”