Should the NHS fund complementary medicine?

A group of doctors has tried to stop NHS resources being spent on quackery.

Let's rather spend money on real medicine that actually works than use them on unproven and disproved treatments.

Let us give it to real nurses and doctors who use real medicine that actually works.

Reasons?

1. NHS money are being given away from good working medicine which would otherwise be available. They give false information to patients who should be receiving conventional medical treatment.

2. Public are best served by using the available funds for treatments that are based on solid evidence

3. "Alternative" medicine does not work, because if it did it would become part of the conventional medicine and it would be very easy to prove it in a double-blinded controlled trial. Results have not published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and it is a fair bet that they are not very reproducible.

4. The "Scientific" basis of "alternative" medicine is not consistent with known science (eg. homeopathy, energy therapies). We knows that homeopathy does not work. Experiments of this kind have been done repeatedly. The people given the wrong homeopathic solution get better just as often as the people given the "homeopathic remedy" (i.e. water). There is nothing that is evidence-based to support homeopathy and it deserves no more place in science than horoscopes.

5. The NHS Direct website includes links to sources containing misleading information about CAM. Furthermore, they allow NHS Alliance and NHS Trust Association to use their logo and style on their website, both websites seems to exist solely to promote CAM. Why support Them?

Why don't we accept that the standard of evidence-based medicine is the only standard? Moreover, that unproven or disproved treatments should be replaced with good evidence and clear information.

Should the NHS fund complementary medicine? Give your vote!

Relevant links:

NHS told to abandon alternative medicine

Doctors' letter: In full
The open letter from some of the UK's leading doctors urging NHS trusts to stop using complementary therapies.

Links to video of Prince's comments...

Prince Charles first advocated the use of complementary medicines more than 20 years ago, and has established the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health.



Complementary Medical Association Response to Dr. Baum and Colleagues

The IMPROBABLE SCIENCE page