Sir, Vivienne Parry’s article “A bitter pill for remedies” (Feb 2) rightly states that many medical treatments funded currently have no convincing evidence of effectiveness. Despite persistent attacks by a small group of influential academics, many patients nevertheless choose to pay for complementary medicine, including homoeopathy. But there is a risk that they may be harmed by unregulated practitioners using bogus “food allergy tests” or advising cessation of vital orthodox treatment.
In contrast, the NHS homoeopathic hospitals are staffed by qualified doctors who are able to deliver such treatments safely, recognise when patients need orthodox treatment, and communicate effectively with other health professionals. The total funding of these five hospitals accounts for less than 0.001 per cent of the NHS budget. Of course, resources are not infinite, but it is ludicrous to suggest that the crisis in allergy services, or any other NHS service, could be solved by cutting funding for these hospitals, which see thousands of patients, provide extremely good value for money and have some of the highest patient satisfaction ratings in the NHS.
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The example of allergy is particularly unfortunate, because the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital provides one of the few specialist NHS allergy services in London, and the only one in the NHS that integrates orthodox advice and treatment with additional expertise in complementary medicine.
Dr Saul Berkovitz, Consultant Physician
Dr Chris Hasford, Consultant Physician
The Allergy Clinic, Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital