PATIENTS

Patients demonstrate against report

On Wednesday 24 February 2010, over 200 patients and homeopaths, including the League of Friends of the RLHH and the British Homeopathic Association², gathered outside parliament to demonstrate against the Science and Technology Committee’s report and to lobby their MPs.

The event, organised by the charity ‘Homeopathy: Medicine from the 21st Century’ (H:MC21), was attended by David Tredinnick MP – Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Integrated and Complementary Healthcare.

Actress Jenny Seagrove was amongst the patients present, who included a 1 year old and a 96 year old, who had both benefited from using homeopathy. Patients requested meetings with their MPs to discuss the value of homeopathy and a petition with the declaration, ‘Homeopathy worked for me’, signed by over 28,000 people, was submitted to Number 10.

There was anger amongst the lobbyists about the way the ‘Evidence Check’ on homeopathy had been organised and executed, particularly the exclusion of patient representatives. The timely submission of this petition, clearly demonstrating that patients benefit from homeopathic treatment, brought patients a step closer to finding their voice in the ongoing debate surrounding homeopathy in UK healthcare.

² See full response from British Homeopathic Association here:
http://www.facultyofhomeopathy.org/export/sites/faculty_site/ST_parts_1-6.pdf