Health board’s decision to stop funding homeopathy is upheld by judicial review

As a doctor, the dismissal of a patient’s legal challenge to NHS Lothian’s decision to cease providing homeopathy saddens me greatly. We certainly have arrived at a sorry state when a frail 74-year-old woman suffering from a painful chronic condition has to resort to the courts to try to get a relatively inexpensive treatment that she and her doctor have found to be beneficial to her health. The judge’s ruling makes a mockery of the government’s avowed intention of putting the patient at the centre of the health service and its policy of creating more patient choice. That a health board believes spending thousands of pounds in legal fees to deprive patients of services is money well spent – instead of using the money to pay for services – beggars belief! This ruling will disappoint all those who are passionate about patient choice; but, I fear, their disappointment will be nothing compared with that of the elderly patient who has seen her final hope of getting the NHS treatment she needs dashed.