For alternative homeopathy: Let GPs decide if treatment is worthwhile

NO DOCTOR who uses homeopathy would support the use of such treatment as a vaccination. This may be supported by some non-doctors using homeopathy, but it is not something the medical community would advocate.

This issue is entirely separate from the debate about whether homeopathy should be funded by the NHS.

The reason there has been support for public funding of homeopathy is very simple. The people who go to homeopathic hospitals get better. Studies show that these patients who go to hospitals such as the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital do very well.

These patients do not go because they are choosing homeopathic medicine. They go because they have been referred by their NHS GPs who have not been able to help them but are sympathetic to them trying something else.

Research has shown that 70 per cent of homeopathic patients express high levels of satisfaction. The argument against this is based on the claim that is it not the homeopathy helping the patient - it is the time spent with them and the doctor caring for them.

It is not overly important how a person gets better - it is the level of satisfaction. That said, all homeopathic doctors believe the medicines do work.

Let's leave this matter in the hands of GPs who decide whether their patients would benefit from homeopathy or not.

• Dr Brian Kaplan is a fellow of the Faculty of Homeopathy.