An NHS hospital is dropping the word homeopathy from its title to better reflect its work.The Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital will now be called the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine.Senior staff recommended the change to better reflect the hospital's methods, which integrate complementary and conventional medicine following controversy over homeopathy, which MPs said last year should no longer be funded on the NHS.The Commons Science and Technology Committee said there was no evidence homeopathy was any more effective than placebo - the same as taking a sugar or dummy pill and believing it works.Homeopathy, which is a 200-year-old system, differs from herbal medicine in that it relies on substances being diluted many times. It has been funded on the NHS since its inception in 1948.The Royal London, which is part of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, introduced acupuncture, herbal medicine and other complementary therapies to the NHS. Some 18% of patients there are treated with homeopathy exclusively, another 53% receive no homeopathy and the reminder are given a mixture of treatments.A statements said the hospital and its staff had focused on integrated medicine for more than 10 years.Clinical director, Dr Peter Fisher, said the name change had received widespread support."Interest in our services is growing all the time and our name change reflects the integration of complementary and conventional disciplines."Patients can be treated in absolute safety in an NHS hospital subject to the clinical governance regime of UCLH and where very experienced physicians are governed by the General Medical Council, and other health professionals by their respective statutory bodies."
Source:The Press Association.
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