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This isn't just a few people who "fell for homoeopathy" this is an entire countries health system, where Dr's will have prescribed homoeopathy to patients. Henc
by Roridge 17y ago
This isn't just a few people who "fell for homoeopathy" this is an entire countries health system, where Dr's will have prescribed homoeopathy to patients. Hence why wasted is in quotes.
- axod 17y agoLet's be honest here. It's not an "ENTIRE" countries health system. The NHS funds a few small homoeopathy clinics. I would be extremely surprised if any GP has 'prescribed homoeopathy'. I'm sure it's almost always the case that the patient asks/demands to be prescribed it because they've read/heard something about it, or conventional medicine just isn't working for them. As the NHS is publicly owned, it has to try and please most people. If a segment of society believe in alternative medicine, unfortunately it's going to be hard to tell them "Yes, you pay your taxes for healthcare, but we do not believe in alternative medicine, so we will not provide it for you". At the end of the day though this is a ridiculously small % of people, and a ridiculously small amount of money compared to the full NHS budget.
- Roridge 17y agoThe NHS is for the entire country.How would a patient get Homoeopathy if a GP hadn't referred them? What part of the NHS in the UK is publicly owned? I pay my NI the same as everyone, but they never asked me as an owner what I felt about it.
- axod 17y agoThere's a difference between a GP suggesting homoeopathy, and a GP refering a patient after the patient has requested homoeopathy. >> "but they never asked me as an owner what I felt about it." You get to vote. You get to write to your MP, your local hospital, etc etc.
- Roridge 17y agoBeing able to "vote" on something is not the same as owning something. >> There's a difference between a GP suggesting homoeopathy, and a GP refering a patient after the patient has requested homoeopathy. That is a fair point, but you can't say for sure that a GP hasn't perscribed or refered someone for this treatment. So kind of irrelevant. But it remains that the HNS wasted the money. As you yourself pointed out they didn't put it to good use because they spent it on homeopathy. Anything not put to good use is wasted is it not?
- axod 17y ago£4m might buy a few new carpets in a few hospitals. It's a miniscule amount. Sure, waste is waste, but the amount is tiny.
- Roridge 17y agoHow many people in the NHS could have kept their jobs last year with that £4 million do you think?
- axod 17y agoIt's probably more useful to look at real scandalous waste, like the computer system: "Delays to NHS computer system could cost taxpayers £40bn" I'm not saying the £4m isn't important, but it's not massive compared to their budget. They could likely have cut down on using temp staff, and saved that £4m easily enough.
- Roridge 17y agoThat is very true, but just another in a long line of the NHS and it's wasted money.
- axod 17y agoCome on. The NHS is one of the best things the UK has. We pay far less for our healthcare than the US, and enjoy longer life. It's not all bad. Any large system has wastage, it's just a part of being big.
- isleyaardvark 17y agoIf a patient requests homeopathy, the ethical thing for a GP to do is discourage them from using it.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- mattmanser 17y agoIndeed, the sum is mentioned in the article: It is thought about £4m a year is spent on homeopathy by the NHS Compare that to the total funding of NHS, roughly £100 billion.