NHS to ban Homeopathy
NHS set to ban homeopathy for patients because it is 'not evidence based and any benefits are down to placebo'
Health service currently spends more than £90,000 a year on the natural treatment.
Doctors should stop prescribing homeopathic medicine to NHS patients, the health service has said. The change has been proposed because "at best, homeopathy is a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS funds which could better be devoted to treatments that work", said Simon Stevens, NHS England's chief executive.
The NHS currently spends £92,412 a year on the natural "treatment", which uses highly diluted doses of natural substances that some claim help the body heal itself.
Recommendations set out in a consultation document categorise homeopathy as a treatment with a "lack of robust evidence of clinical effectiveness" and say GPs should not give it to new patients in a drive to cut prescription costs.
"Often patients are receiving medicines which have been proven to be ineffective or in some cases dangerous," says the document, noting there are often "more effective, safer and/or cheaper alternatives".
Last year 1.1 billion prescription items overall were signed off by GPs at a cost of £9.2bn – an amount health bosses have been tasked to reduce through increased scrutiny of the medicines provided.
The new national guidelines name 18 treatments that should generally not be prescribed and sets out action on limiting the prescription of around 3,200 products, such as eye drops, cough mixture and sun cream, that are commonly available over the counter in chemists and supermarkets.
