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NHS chief wants homeopathy to lose official stamp of approval
Kaya Burgess

October 28 2019, 12:01am, The Times

    Health
    NHS

There is no evidence that homeopathic treatments are any more effective than placebos
PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Britain’s biggest homeopathic society should have its accreditation revoked by the healthcare watchdog, the head of NHS England has demanded, claiming that some homeopaths “spread misinformation about vaccines”.

The Society of Homeopaths is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) and displays the regulator’s logo prominently on its website, describing it to visitors as “our mark of quality” and a “stamp of approval”.

Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, has now written to the PSA to demand that the society’s accreditation be revoked when it comes up for annual renewal in January. He said yesterday that accrediting homeopaths increased the risk of “chancers being able to con more people” out of their money.

Homeopaths claim to be able...
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more:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/nhs-chief-wants-homeopathy-to-lose-official-stamp-of-approval-k62n75l57?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=TG-1

What did Stevens really say? Newspaper articles are irrelevant here. We must know what Stevens said.



The BBC fumbled together pieces they took from what Stevens said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50207231

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Health
Health bosses' 'serious concerns' over homeopathy

    28 October 2019
    241 comments

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Homeopathic remedies are not recommended to treat any health conditions

Health bosses have expressed "serious concerns" over the possible re-accreditation of the UK's largest group of registered homeopaths.

In a letter to the Professional Standards Authority, they said it gives "a false impression" to the public that their treatments are "clinically and scientifically established".

Homeopathy should not be recommended to the public, health chiefs say.

NHS England recommended that GPs stop providing it in 2017.

It says there is no good-quality evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition.

The Society of Homeopaths said it would not be commenting while its re-accreditation was currently being considered.

'Fundamentally flawed'

Chief executive Simon Stevens and NHS national medical director Stephen Powis wrote to the Professional Standards Authority, saying:
 
"This is a vital issue at a time when there is a rise of mis-information about vaccines - some of which is apparently promoted by homeopaths - and which poses a significant danger to human health.

"The basis of their practice remains fundamentally flawed," the letter said.

It went on to say that NHS England had issued guidance based on the latest clinical evidence "to ensure that patients are not prescribed items such as homeopathy that could be unsafe, ineffective or where there are more cost-effective alternatives".

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Homeopathy is a complementary or alternative medicine, different from conventional treatments

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens added: "Anything that gives homeopathy a veneer of credibility risks chancers being able to con more people into parting with their hard-earned cash in return for bogus treatments which at best do nothing, and at worst can be potentially dangerous.

He said homeopathy was "no replacement for rigorously tried and tested medical treatments, delivered or prescribed by properly-qualified professionals".

The NHS, the Chief Medical Officer and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's position is that homeopathic remedies are not scientifically validated, or recommended to treat any health conditions.

But the government said around £55,000 was spent on NHS prescribing of homeopathic products last year.

Anyone can practise as a homeopath in the UK, without any qualifications or experience.

The Professional Standards Authority accredits organisations, such as the Society of Homeopaths, which have a register of homeopathy practitioners.

The authority said it did not comment on live cases or any applications currently being assessed.

Its decision to grant re-accreditation to the Society of Homeopaths earlier this year is set to be challenged in a judicial review by the Good Thinking Society.
[...]

The NHS itself says: "There is no good-quality evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition."

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Chopping text to pieces, just to feed them through a word machine is no journalism. It is barbarism.