Fall in homeopathic prescriptions

The number of prescriptions for homeopathic remedies has fallen by almost half in two years, new figures suggest.

GPs wrote 49,300 prescriptions for homeopathy in 2007, down from 83,000 in 2005, statistics from the Prescription Pricing Authority showed.

This is despite an overall increase in the number of prescriptions written in primary care, from 720 million in 2005 to 796.3 million in 2007.

The spend on homeopathy also fell 46% to £321,000 in 2007 - 0.006% of the total prescribing budget - compared with £593,000 in 2005.

Homeopathy experts said there was no evidence GPs were shunning homeopathy or that patients were turning their backs on it.

The figures on prescribing were obtained by Pulse newspaper, whose investigation in January showed that only 37% of 132 primary care trusts still had contracts for homeopathic services.

More than a quarter of trusts had stopped or reduced funding between 2005 and 2007 for the therapies, it said.

Homeopathy is based on diluting substances - that might otherwise be poisonous - in water or alcohol. The solutions are made from many different things including plants, minerals and animal products.

Some scientists argue homeopathic solutions are diluted so many times that they are unlikely to contain any active ingredients at all. But others believe homeopathy can be used to treat a wide range of illnesses including eczema and chronic fatigue.

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