Sensibly, a Lothian (Scotland) NHS board decided to stop funding homeopathy yesterday.
The British Homeopathic Association (BHA), which claimed the controversial alternative medicine had been the victim of a “hate campaign”, today refused to rule out a challenge in the courts.
The organisation believes the removal of clinics, used by around 500 people a year in the region, constitutes a “major service change” and is therefore a decision for the Scottish Government, rather than NHS Lothian.
However, other groups expressed delight that the service had been cut, calling the decision a victory for “evidence over superstition”, and said the BHA should “shut up”.
Shut up and listen? Or just shut up.
I kid, I kid.
The group’s chairman, John Cook, said: “[The] consultation failed to listen to actual patient feedback in the form of general correspondence and feedback at public meetings, instead concentrating only on the flawed online survey which was hijacked by people outside of Lothian who campaign against homeopathy.”
Health board sources claimed the Scottish Health Council has advised that the removal of homeopathy would not constitute a “major service change” and that NHS Lothian was therefore entitled to take the decision.
Keir Hardie, president of Edinburgh Skeptics, backed the NHS Lothian board and ridiculed the prospect of a legal challenge. He said: “The evidence has spoken, the service users have spoken and frankly it is probably time for the BHA to shut up.”
Um…not Keir Hardie, actually. That’s someone quite different. Keir Liddle is the Keir they want.
I bet if they had even less homeopaths protesting, they would be even more powerful. If they had zero, they would be unstoppable. I think we should suggest this.
Scotland FTW. We sometimes do something right. Top bloke our Keir (Liddle that is. I’m not old enough to remember the other bloke).
Surely going from not treating people aka Homoeopathy, treating people is indeed a major service change?
Ever hear of the homeopathic joke? You take something mildly funny, and embed it in a boring run-on blog comment: the dilution makes it devastatingly funny.
Yeh. I went to a talk by your Keir at Manchester SITP last year. He’s good.
Under homeopathic principles, we don’t need to take any notice of what they said anyway, not until they’ve diluted their press release with 10 times as many words, 10 times over.
So until their press releases (currently quoted at about 150 words or so) reach 1.5 x 10^12 words long, they can’t expect them to have any effect. We should make a counter.
The group’s chairman, John Cook, said: “[The] consultation failed to listen to actual patient feedback in the form of general correspondence and feedback at public meetings, instead concentrating only on the flawed online survey which was hijacked by people outside of Lothian who campaign against homeopathy.”
I’m sure NHS has its faults as a bureaucratic organization, but I strongly doubt that they would make a major decision based only on one online survey. I get a feeling there’s something else the homeopathy guys aren’t admitting here.
Be careful when homeopaths fight back. They have the knowledge to build the most devastating weapons the world has ever seen. The technique involves a single 9mm round ground into a fine powder, hundreds of gallons of water, and a Super Soaker. They’re currently heavily investing in inventing a homeopathic hydrogen bomb, but there’s always too many hydrogen atoms left in the solution to make the bomb usable.
Ha ha! I didn’t mean to sound possessive, there. He is his own Keir. He’s a good lad who talks from the heart which is good. He also takes time to find out about the things he talks about which is always good.
They’ve also perfected a balloon-based delivery system should the water-based bomb ever become a reality. Rumor has it the range will be between 10 and 15 meters, 20 if the wielder has a really good arm.
(Also turning myself in to the grammar police for the last post…)
Justin – I knew what you meant! It’s a thing. Our Bess, our Paul, our whoever. It’s an idiom. It’s one I like.
Here is a vial of my homeopathically prepared caring about what homeopaths think.
My 1st thought was “yay water fight”, always fun in the Summer, 2nd, BHA should be the British Humanist Association. The Homeopaths should have to dilute their acronym to have no trace of letters left.
Also, horray for Lothian!
The BHA has testimonials. Take that, evidence based scienters.
But do the testimonials have a low enough fact to fluff ration to be effective? I think they may need to use them as dedications in fantasy novels to achieve the intended effect.
er “ratio
n“Oh yes, a 100C times, yes.