The British Homeopathic Association (BHA) is taking the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) to court over a recent decision to ban public funding of homeopathy and other alternative medicines.
NHS England launched a consultation in October on the validity of funding treatments that many in the organization say have low clinical effectiveness. Its chief executive, Simon Stevens, singled out homeopathy as “at best a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS funds.”
In December the organization announced that, following the consultation, 18 types of of alternative treatments and medicines – including homeopathy, omega-3 fatty acids and certain herbal medicines – would no longer be routinely prescribed in primary care.
This week the BHA has announced that it will seek a judicial review against the NHS, arguing that the consultation (Items which not routinely prescribed in primary care) was “fundamentally flawed from the outset”.
In a statement, the BHA added: “ … the proposal was not formulated with input from any homeopathy experts or practitioners; it was not a genuine attempt to engage consultees (a decision having been ostensibly been predetermined) and did not provide consultees with adequate information on which to provide a considered and informed response”.
“… it was not a genuine attempt to engage consultees (a decision having been ostensibly been predetermined) and did not provide consultees with adequate information on which to provide a considered and informed response”
The BHA will argue that by failing to consult with the homeopathic community, and patient users of homeopathic treatments, the NHS acted unlawfully.
The BHA, a charity that works to promote the study and practice of homeopathy, used the crowdfunding website crowdjustice.com to raise £18,000 to cover its legal costs.