Hospital closed down! Hooray!

[philosoraptor42]

Confused? Well don't worry. The hospital which has been closed down is Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital.

West Kent Primary Care Trust has been conducting a review of all its funding.

Up until now, part of it has been paying for patients to be treated at the Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital, or at a clinic in Bromley.

Spokeswoman Emma Burns said the move was because "the NHS has to decide the best use of money on the evidence of clinical effectiveness".

Trust executives recommended to board members at a meeting that the £160,000 spent on treatments each year could be better spent elsewhere.

It follows a lengthy and extensive public consultation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7015675.stm

Having lived in T. Wells between the ages of 8 and 18, I was quite pleased with this news.

There was a report on Channel Four News shortly before this which is well worth watching:
http://dcscience.net/channel4-news-210907.wmv

Within the video, Tim Crayford (Association of Directors of Public Health) explains very clearly:

It is more to do with a point of principle. There are very many really effective treatments that the NHS can’t currently afford to provide. And should we not be ensuring that the limited resources we’ve got in the NHS go to the things that
really work well, and are going to save lives”

Unfortunately for some reason the presenters from channel four seem to feel the need to talk about 'alternative medicine', when the subject at hand is homeopathic medicine. They claim that the medicines use all-natural ingredients. That's kinda true, except there's only really one ingredient, and that's water.

Here's some information on homeopathy for anyone who's a little confused:

Homeopathic remedies are made from plant, mineral and animal substances.  They are diluted and shaken vigorously many times until there is little, if any, of the original substance left.  Nobody is sure how it works.  But homeopaths believe that the more dilute the remedy, the deeper the effect. One theory is that the original substance somehow leaves a molecular 'blueprint' in the water, and this triggers your body's healing mechanisms.

 In other words, homeopathy is treating illnesses with water. It's superstition pretending to be science. But what about claims that there is evidence that homeopathy works? Well there's more info on that too:

There are over 100 published clinical trials looking at how well homeopathy works in treating various illnesses and symptoms.  None of these trials provide us with any scientific evidence to prove that homeopathy can cure or prevent any type of disease, including cancer.  Many individuals say that homeopathy has helped their symptoms.  And some small trials have shown that homeopathy can have a positive effect.  Two studies suggest that homeopathy may help women with breast cancer to cope with menopause symptoms.  But these are small clinical trials and they don’t provide enough evidence to show if homeopathy really works, or how.

We don’t really know whether the effects of homeopathy truly come from the homeopathic medicine or if they are simply a placebo effect.  In 1997 the medical journal The Lancet published a meta-analysis of placebo controlled trials of homeopathy in humans.  A meta-analysis means taking the results of several trials of a particular treatment, and looking at the results all together.  This can give a more accurate picture than looking at each result individually.  The researchers looked at 89 trials in all.  They concluded that the positive effects of homeopathy could not all be put down to the placebo effect alone.

Another meta-analysis of 110 homeopathy trials, published in 2005, found the evidence supporting homeopathic treatments to be weak.  The researchers concluded by saying that the placebo effect was quite likely.  In 2006 a review of 6 trials that used homeopathy in cancer care found insufficient evidence that they were effective in treating cancer. So we need more research before we will know if homeopathic medicines really do work. 

Well at least they're honest, but yeah, basically homeopathy is a placebo effect. They are giving the patients water and the effects are barely distinguishable from a placebo, so we're not talking about a terribly effective treatment here. So since they are only giving people water, you'd have thought it was pretty cheap, wouldn't you?

Your first consultation with a private homeopath will usually cost between £35 and £90.  It may be even more than this, especially if the homeopath is medically trained.  Further appointments are usually shorter so cost less – about £20 to £60.  Your homeopathic remedy will usually be included in the consultation price, but do check first.

Of course, if homeopathy is offered on the NHS, that means that the NHS gets the bill. The bill isn't in order to ensure a placebo effect. It is pseudoscience getting handouts from the government.

Here's where the information came from:
http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=251

Here are some of the comments from people petitioning for the hospital to be saved. (By the way, the hospital is still going to be used. In fact it's already used for pediatrics and that will continue. It is just the homeopathy departments which will be closed down.)

How can NHS justify closing the H/Hospital when the remedies used are sooo much cheaper than allopathic medicines? Not only that, they are not harmful in any way, wherease allopathic medicines are frequently pulled off the shelves soon after launch because they are so harmful.

Well, as I've already noted, the so-called homeopathic 'professionals' actually cost quite a large amount considering that they are handing out water to patients and that there is no scientific understanding of how homeopathy works or even if homeopathy works. (I don't think it would take much longer than a day to teach someone how a placebo works, so that hardly justifies the fee.) As for the side-effects of ordinary medicine, I guess that's one of the few downsides of dealing with medicines which actually have some effect on the human body.

HOW can NHS stop homoeopathic treatments because they are claimed to be ineffective? So many people come to homoeopathy because mainstream medicine has failed them, if this hospital closes they will be thrown back into mainstream waiting lists with little chance of help.

Well actually the whole point of closing down the homeopathy treatments is so that the money for mainstream medicine isn't being drained by overrated pseudoscience. Besides, if you want to treat your ailments with water, there's a tap in your own home!

My children three of whom are now in their 20s have had homoeopathic medicine all their lives and have not once had the need for allopathic drugs. I am astounded at the attacks rained on the professionals who work in the homoeopathic hospitals. The doctors and nurses have had the same medical training as any other doctor or nurse - they merely choose to use homoeopathic medicines rather than allopathic. Whilst there is no scientific evidence that how homoepathic medicines work, there are hundreds of volumes of texts of observed cases that have been cured by homoeopathy. The majority of these have been written over the past 250 by properly trained doctors and more recently by lay homoeopaths covering. There is no such long-term observational evidence of the efficacy of allopathic drugs.

Well, that's nice. Except it's blatantly false. To shamelessly steal from nonsecateur's blog:
"Dear internet,
if you reply to a post using the phrase 'studies have shown' to back up an argument, we all know that you:
1) Can't remember what the studies were
2)Are stretching to back up your point
3)Don't know if any studies *did* demonstrate your point, but you're hoping nobody questions you about it
4)Are also hoping nobody points out the numerous studies disproving your point"

If there was less evidence for the efficacy of ordinary medical treatments than there is for homeopathic treatments, they wouldn't be put on the market. End of story. I feel sad for her children who haven't been allowed to use paracetamol for a headache or stomach bug, but I am glad they've been lucky enough not to suffer from anything too serious during their childhood.

This hospital is unique and must not close. I hope Prince Charles has been asked to support the campaign.

After all, when a man with such major scientific credentials as Prince Charles is involved, how can we fail to support homeopathy?

To the NHS idiot descion makers, please do not be so short sight and utterly distructive as to close such a safe and effective resource. Do proper research into your descion making.

That the placebos are effective is not the issue. They might well be. It's just that new mainstream medications can be even more effective. However, the homeopathic 'professionals' charge too much when all they are giving out is water. The safety of water is also not in dispute.

Instead of closing this facility why oh why won't "they" finally acknoledge that homeopathy works and EXTEND the facilities and make them more widely available to people! You'd see less people in the GP's waiting room. Or perhaps that's the problem "they" have????!!

Yep, there are conspiracy theorists signing the petition. What a surprise!

It is outrageous that this closure should even be considered. The hipocratic oath is truly upheld within the discipline of homoeopathy. this from one who has suffered trauma and accident at the hands of the alopathic branch of medicine. if demonstrators needed please contact me. best wishes.

The basic gist of this argument is "some mainstream medicines had bad side-effects, therefore homeopathy works". Spot the deliberate mistake.

Still it seems that some people signed the petition in order to state the opposite opinion. I hope that their signitures are not put towards the appeal against the decision. Here are their comments:

Please SHUT THIS HOSPITAL DOWN NOW! The NHS should fund evidence based medicine that works, not this snake oil bullshit. It pains me to think that any money has ever gone to this place. All the real doctors and nurses who could have benefitted from that money have been betrayed by the NHS ever funding these charlatans.


It's about time this waste of money & places like it are shut down. good riddance. Check out the James Randi Website http://www.randi.org/ to see the truth about this homoeopathic rubbish