UK - Full letter: doctors' campaign against alternative therapies

[Sheri Nakken]

Also can vote at BBC webpage
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5007118.stm
Doctors attack 'bogus' therapies
Nothing has changed since Samuel Hahnemann (discover of Homeopathy)

"Despite this, a recently-published patient guide, promoting use of
homeopathy without making the lack of proven efficacy clear to patients, is
being made available through government funding. Further suggestions about
benefits of homeopathy in the treatment of asthma have been made in the
?Smallwood Report? and in another publication by the
Department of Health designed to give primary care groups ?a basic source
of reference on complementary and alternative therapies.? A Cochrane review of
all relevant studies, however, failed to confirm any benefits for asthma
treatment.
"
Sheri

I think it is appalling that Edzard Ernst has put his name to this. He
should lose his job right now.
Sue
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 85,00.html

Times Online May 23, 2006
Full letter: doctors' campaign against alternative therapies

From Professor Michael Baum and others
Mr Peter Homa
Chief Executive
St George?s Healthcare NHS Trust
St George?s Hospital
Blackshaw Road
Tooting
London SW17 0QT
19th May 2006

Dear Mr Homa

Re Use of ?alternative? medicine in the NHS

We are a group of physicians and scientists who are concerned about ways in
which unproven or disproved treatments are being encouraged for general use
in the NHS. We would ask you to review practices in your own trust, and to
join us in representing our concerns to the Department of Health because we
want patients to benefit from the best treatments available.

There are two particular developments to which we would like to draw your
attention. First, there is now overt promotion of homeopathy in parts of the
NHS (including the NHS Direct website). It is an implausible treatment for
which over a dozen systematic reviews have failed to produce convincing
evidence of effectiveness. Despite this, a recently-published patient guide,
promoting use of homeopathy without making the lack of proven efficacy clear
to patients, is being made available through government funding. Further
suggestions about benefits of homeopathy in the treatment of asthma have
been made in the ?Smallwood Report? and in another publication by the
Department of Health designed to give primary care groups ?a basic source of
reference on complementary and alternative therapies.? A Cochrane review of
all relevant studies, however, failed to confirm any benefits for asthma
treatment.

Secondly, as you may know, there has been a concerted campaign to promote
complementary and alternative medicine as a component of healthcare
provision. Treatments covered by this definition include some which have not
been tested as pharmaceutical products, but which are known to cause adverse
effects, and others that have no demonstrable benefits. While medical
practice must remain open to new discoveries for which there is convincing
evidence, including any branded as ?alternative?, it would be highly
irresponsible to embrace any medicine as though it were a matter of
principle.

At a time when the NHS is under intense pressure, patients, the public and
the NHS are best served by using the available funds for treatments that are
based on solid evidence. Furthermore, as someone in a position of
accountability for resource distribution, you will be familiar with just how
publicly emotive the decisions concerning which therapies to provide under
the NHS can be; our ability to explain and justify to patients the selection
of treatments, and to account for expenditure on them more widely, is
compromised if we abandon our reference to evidence. We are sensitive to the
needs of patients for complementary care to enhance well-being and for
spiritual support to deal with the fear of death at a time of critical
illness, all of which can be supported through services already available
within the NHS without resorting to false claims.

These are not trivial matters. We urge you to take an early opportunity to
review practice in your own trust with a view to ensuring that patients do
not receive misleading information about the effectiveness of alternative
medicines. We would also ask you to write to the Department of Health
requesting evidence-based information for trusts and for patients with
respect to alternative medicine.

Yours sincerely

Professor Michael Baum
Emeritus Professor of Surgery, University College London

and
Professor Frances Ashcroft FRS
University Laboratory of Physiology, Oxford
Professor Sir Colin Berry
Emeritus Professor of Pathology, Queen Mary, London
Professor Gustav Born FRS
Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology, Kings College London
Professor Sir James Black FRS
Kings College London
Professor David Colquhoun FRS
University College London
Professor Peter Dawson
Clinical Director of Imaging, University College London
Professor Edzard Ernst
Peninsula Medical School, Exeter
Professor John Garrow
Emeritus Professor of Human Nutrition, London
Professor Sir Keith Peters FRS
President, The Academy of Medical Sciences
Mr Leslie Rose
Consultant Clinical Scientist
Professor Raymond Tallis
Emeritus Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of Manchester
Professor Lewis Wolpert CBE FRS
University College London
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Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath
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