lancet report 2005

Re: National media coverage on Fri 26^th August of The Lancet report - Is Homeopathy just a placebo effect?

A report in the respected medical journal The Lancet said that patients treated with homeopathy fared no better than those treated with a dummy, "placebo" therapy. This sparked debate on TV, newspapers and radio, over whether complementary therapies should be provided on the health service.

Several days prior to this, the Prince of Wales, a passionate campaigner for integration of complementary therapies into general medicine, hit the headlines with news that he has commissioned a report into its benefits, reportedly in an attempt to persuade the Government to offer more of the many therapies on the NHS. The report is expected to claim that providing alternative therapies could save the health service up to £3.5bn in drugs bills.

The Lancet claims that it is the placebo effect of the amount of time spent talking to the patient during a homeopathic consultation that makes it work and that there are no real biochemical changes due to the pills.

In support of homeopathy, firstly, it has to be stated that the randomised control trials that scientists’ use for conventional medicine will never show true results of homeopathy. It is an energetic system of medicine that treats the whole individual not the disease name, so giving the same pill to many people with a particular condition in a trial, just wont work. In defence of Homeopathy with regard to the placebo effect, what about all the animals being treated and babies who cannot possibly just improve due to a chat in a consultation

I have to say before I go any further, that I am a Homeopath, so my view will be biased. I must make clear that I am in no way anti orthodox medicine, I think of homeopathy as a ‘complimentary ‘ not ‘alternative’ medicine.

My reason for writing this letter is that I think it is a shame that reports such as The Lancet will only slow down the process of movement towards making this natural system of medicine available to all on the NHS.

Somerset is particularly an enlightened area of the country with respect to use of complementary therapies. I would like to think that due to the slower pace of life, we are not looking for the quick fix at all costs.

There are now more than 47,000 practitioners of alternative medicine in the UK, more than the number of GPs. Despite suspicion from some quarters of the medical establishment, many family doctors are embracing alternative therapies, with some practices now offering acupuncture and homeopathy within their own surgeries and almost 50% of GP’s in England are referring patients to Homeopaths and almost 80% in Scotland.

Homeopathy will only become widely available on the NHS when there is demand for it, which will in turn provide more clinical evidence that it works.

I coordinate the complimentary health section for this paper and I would be very grateful to receive some stories from local people who have had homeopathic treatment and had results that show Homeopathy can’t just be a placebo effect. I would then like to publish them in the column in the near future),

Cathy Morris-Adams RSHom, can be contacted on 01749 899 228 or cathy@homeopathic-medicine.info.