Well it’s another week after the second meeting of the Evidence Check and the sound bites continue, they’ve now reached online regional newspapers wringing every last drop out of yesterday’s news.
I wonder though, can someone not put the record straight – how much DOES the NHS spend on homeopathic medicines? The Telegraph went for “£4 million a year on dispensing homeopathy to patients.” But is that the cost of the medicines, or the cost of dispensing them, or both? Because The Guardian reported that the NHS spent “£12 million on homeopathic remedies between 2005 and 2008”. £4 million a year again, but suggests it’s only for the medicines. Sounds like a small point I know, but it wouldn’t be if you were footing the bill. The Minister of State, Mike O’Brien, told us that the NHS bill for homeopathic medicines was around £150,000 a year, a bit of a difference, although he went on to add that the cost of providing homeopathy, including running 4 homeopathic hospitals, paying for GP homeopathic services and referrals etc was around £12 million a year – a figure he said he got from The Guardian ! Mike O’B did remind everyone that the drug budget of the NHS (that’s not the NHS budget, just the part for drugs) is around £11billion a year, and that since homeopathy is already funded by the NHS and there is a group of clinicians who believe it works, they should continue to have the right to prescribe it.
So just to be clear, that’s £11billion for drugs compared to £150,000 for homeopathic remedies.
All right then. Sorted. Continue reading