Queen's doctor warns of homoeopathy crisis - 'campaign' to derail alternative therapies on the NHS

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http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2919644.ece

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Queen's doctor warns of homoeopathy crisis

By Nina Lakhani

A leaked memo reveals that there is 'a co-ordinated campaign' to derail

alternative therapies on the NHS

Published: 02 September 2007

The Queen's personal physician and Britain's leading homoeopath

yesterday warned of a " co-ordinated campaign to derail complementary

therapies in the NHS " .

A leaked memo seen by The Independent on Sunday identifies several

influential groups working together for the removal of homoeopathy from

the NHS.

According to Dr Fisher, clinical director of the Royal London

Homoeopathic Hospital, there has been a 20 per cent reduction in

referrals to the hospital in the past year, as new patients are refused

funding by a growing number of primary care trusts.

The hospital - an NHS centre of excellence - could be forced drastically

to cut services if other PCTs introduce the same system and if funding

for patients currently undergoing treatment is withdrawn.

Dr Fisher, whose patients include the supermodel Schiffer,

pointed to the fact that some six million people in the UK use

complementary therapies each year. Advocates include Beckham and

Zeta-.

Dr Fisher said: " There are some patients with conditions that

prescription drugs alone do not help. There is a huge potential to help

these patients and those who experience adverse side-effects from

conventional medicines with complementary therapies. "

The four NHS homoeopathic hospitals combine therapies to treat chronic

conditions, such as depression, irritable bowel syndrome and

osteoarthritis that conventional medicines alone can fail. But this

relatively new

integrated approach offends the beliefs and aims of certain groups.

" The campaign dates back two years starting with several eminent and

mostly retired scientists and doctors who have a way of seeing the world

and medicine which complementary therapies do not sit within, " Dr Fisher

said. " The pharmaceutical industry is worried for its future, as public

opinion is shifting towards complementary therapies. "

The memo, sent out by the president of the Association of the Directors

of Public Health, Dr Tim Crayford, referred only to homoeopathy, but all

complementary therapies are affected. Dr Crayford said: " The email...

was certainly not about all complementary therapies. This paper was

written to help PCTs focus on the delivery of essential services. "

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Alternative Views on Health

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Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

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