NHS to Ban Homeopathy Funding and Curb other Prescriptions in a Bid to Save £250MILLION a Year

The NHS is to ban homeopathy funding and curb other prescriptions in a bid to save £250 million a year.
The health service spends millions of pounds on treatments like homeopathy and herbal remedies.
The move was welcomed but NHS chiefs also sparked anger over plans to limit free prescriptions of other items.
NHS officials have launched a consultation to scrap homeopathy after warning it is a “misuse of scarce funds”.
The move is part of a radical plan aimed at saving the cash-strapped health service around £250million a year.
Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, said homeopathy was “at best a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS fund which could better be devoted to treatments that work”.
According to the draft consultation, prescriptions for homeopathic treatments cost NHS England £92,412 in 2016, and at least £578,000 over the past five years.
But it is estimated that millions of pounds more could be saved in total when including consultations and follow-up appointments.
Homeopathy is based on the idea the body can heal itself through exposure to highly diluted substances that cause an illness.
Besides homeopathy and herbal remedies, the plans highlight 16 other items that will be banned on prescription for reasons ranging from low clinical effectiveness to low cost-effectiveness.
These include Omega-3 fatty acid compounds, unsafe antidepressants, an alternative to Viagra , rubs and ointments used to relieve muscle pain, and travel vaccines.
The homeopathy ban was welcomed by experts.
Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter , said: “Homeopathy is based on implausible assumptions and the most reliable evidence fails to show that it works beyond a placebo effect. It can cause severe harm when used as an alternative to effective treatments.
“Therefore, it is high time that the NHS stops funding it and instead employs our scarce resources on treatments that are backed by sound science.”